The  Public  Schools  of  Sf^n  Pranclsco; 

John  C.  Pelton's  Course  in  Regard  to 

the  vSane  Unmasked. 


/f//7^  //v/< 


THE 


/^A 


'Hdficy  //^/i/^' 


PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  t 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 


JOHN  C.  PELTONS  COURSE 


IN  REGARD  TO  THE  SAME 


UN  MA.SKED 


RESULT  OF  THE  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE  CHARGES  AGAINST 

JOHN  C.  PELTON  BY  THE  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  BOARD 

OF  EDUCATION,  JUNE,  1865. 


SAN  FRANCISCO  : 

1865. 


THE 


PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


OF 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 


JOHN  C.  PELTOFS  COURSE 


IN  RBGARD  TO  THE  SAME 


UN  MA.S  KED 


RESULT  OF  THE  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE  CHARGES  AGAINST 

JOHN  C.  P ELTON  BY  THE  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  BOARD 

OF  EDUCATION,  JUNE,  1865. 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

1  S65. 


''   •»"»«  »*»  "» 


51^     ,1 


TO    THE    PUBLIC. 


This  pamphlet  is  published  by  those  who  sincerely  desire 
the  advancement  of  the  best  interests  of  our  public  schools, 
and  for  the  purpose  of  directing  public  attention  to  the  danger 
to  be  apprehended  from  the  schemes  of  a  designing  man,  who, 
through  a  mistaken  sympathy  on  the  part  of  the  people,  was 
elevated  to  exercise  a  certain  control  therein. 

The  office  of  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools  is  at  present 
filled  by  a  man  who,  as  a  teacher,  was  guilty  of  neglect  of 
duty,  unprofessional  conduct,  systematic  insubordination,  dis- 
obedience and  falsehood ;  and  one  who  has  the  legal  right  to 
the  office,  but  is  apparently  lacking  in  those  high  moral  prin- 
cipals which  are  generally  supposed  to  form  essential  elements 
of  qualification  for  that  position. 

This  was  clearly  proven  after  a  patient  and  laborious  inves- 
tigation, made  at  his  own  request,  and  after  he  had  been  af- 
forded ample  opportunity  for  defense. 

The  decision  and  report  of  the  committee  having  this  mat- 
ter in  charge,  was  made  to  the  Board  of  Education  in  June, 
1865,  and  nearly  four  weeks  after  the  election  of  John  C.  Pel- 
ton  to  the  office  he  now  holds. 

The  report  having  been  adopted,  the  Board  directed  their 
Secretary,  Daniel  Lunt,  to  enter  the  same  upon  the  minutes  of 
their  meetings.  Four  months  have  now  clasped  and  the  order 
is  not  obeyed ;  Mr.  Lunt  refuses  or  neglects  to  make  the  re- 
cord, under  the  absurd  pretext  that  "  he  has  not  yet  had  time," 
and  himself  and  principal,  with  other  friends,  seem  determined 
tl(|ftt  the  will  of  the  Board  in  this  matter  shall  not  be  carried 
into  effect;  and,  in  order  that  neither  they  nor  their  colleagues 
shall  be  allowed  to  suppress  the  record  in  this  manner,  it  is 
now  put  in  print  and  given  to  the  public. 

That  a  determination  exists  to  prevent  it  from  being  record- 
ed is  clearly  proven  ;  first,  by  the  neglect  of  the  Secretary  (an 
appointee  of  the  Superintendent),  to  make  the  entry  as  di- 
rected ;  and  second,  by  the  refusal  of  the  present  Board  to  in- 


struct  liim  to  perform  his  duty,  as  appears  from  the  following 
proceedings: 

At  the  meeting  of  September  26th,  1865,  a  resolution  was 
introduced  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  be,  and  is  hereby,  instructed  to  carry 
out  tiie  instructions  of  the  Board,  in  regard  to  tlie  report  of  the  special  commit- 
tee of  wliich  L.  W.  Kennedy  was  chairman;  submitted  June  13th,  18G5,  within 
four  weeks  from  this  date. 

"Whereupon  the  President,  J.  W.  Winans,  a  friend  and  sup- 
porter of  John  C.  Pelton,  left  the  chair  and  offered  the  follow- 
ing amendment : 

After  the  word  "  instructed,"  insert  as  follows :  "  And  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
be  has  lieretofore  been  unable  to  record  the  report  of  the  Special  Committee  of 
wliich  L.  W.  Kennedy  was  chairman,  submitted  June  13th,  1865,  in  the  minutes, 
from  the  pressure  of  liis  official  duties,  and  because  in  the  present  relations  of 
parlies,  and  in  the  present  condition  of  things,  it  is  deemed  by  this  Board  inex- 
pedient that  such  entry  should  now  be  made;  he  is  therefore  ordered  not  to  make 
the  same." 

The  amendment  was  adopted  by  the  following  vote  :  Ayes 
— n.  T.  Graves,  W.  A.  Grover,  A.  C.  Nichols,  George  C. 
nickox,  S.  C.  Bugbee,  J.  W.  Winans ;  Noes — L.  B.  Mastick, 
M.  L^^nch,  C.  M.  Plum ;  and  the  resolution  as  amended,  only 
failed  of  passing  b}'  the  want  of  one  vote. 

As  the  election  of  Pelton  to  his  present  office,  took  place 
some  weeks  before  the  report  was  adopted  by  the  Board  and 
ordered  on  the  minutes,  it  is  not  apparent  how  the  "present 
relation  of  parties,"  or  the  "present  condition  of  things"  have 
changed  since  that  time  to  make  it  inexpedient  that  such  en- 
try should  not  now  be  made,  nor  do  we  think  that  the  fact  of 
bis  election,  either  before  or  after  such  action  would  be  a  suffi- 
cient reason  for  concealing  his  offenses  or  suppressing  the 
record  of  his  misdeeds ;  and  we  do  not  intend  that  he  shall 
again,  in  this  instance,  reap  the  reward  of  setting  at  defiance 
the  expressed  will  of  the  Board. 

Had  the  Secretary  carried  out  the  instructions  given  him, 
and  entered  the  report  on  the  minutes,  it  is  probable  that  the 
accompanying  document  and  report,  which  were  prepared  in 
June  last,  would  never  have  been  made  public;  and  that  the 
report  has  not  been  recorded,  and  is  now  in  the  custody  of 
John  C.  Pelton  as  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools,  is  of  it- 
self a  sufficient  reason  for  this  publication. 

San  Francisco,  October  11th,  1865. 

Many  Citizens. 


BEFORE  THE  BOARDJOP  EDUCATION,  JTJNE,  1865. 


During  the  past  year  the  case  of  tlie  dismissal  of  J.  C. 
Pelton  from  the  position  of  Grammar  Master  of  the  Kincon 
School,  by  the  Board  of  Education,  has  occupied  a  large  share 
of  the  public  attention.  The  matter  has  been  discussed  through 
the  columns  of  the  newspapers  of  the  day.  The  action  of  the 
Board  in  the  premises  was,  previous  to  the  election  of  Pelton 
to  his  present  official  position,  the  subject  of  the  most  bitter 
and  acrimonious  criticism,  both  in  editorial  articles  and  anony- 
mous communications,  written  during  the  interval  by  parties 
having  no  other  object  than  that  of  bringing  this  body  into 
disrepute,  thereby  hoping  to  weaken,  if  not  destroy,  its  useful- 
ness, and  cripple  the  cause  of  education,  sim23ly  to  advance 
the  interests  of  selfish  and  disorganizing  spirits,  who  care  not 
how  much  the  public  welfare  may  suffer,  so  that  they  may  ad- 
vance or  attain  their  own  sinister  ends.  With  this  object  in 
view,  a  regular  and  periodical  system  of  warfare  upon  the 
Board  of  Education  has  been  kept  up  by  these  parties  for 
months  past,  and  the  flame  constantly  fanned  by  those  who 
hoped  to  warm  themselves  by  its  blaze  in  the  end.  To  these 
persistent  and  repeated  attacks,  the  Board,  in  its  collective 
capacity,  and  as  individuals,  paid  no  attention,  but  have 
gone  on  in  the  discharge  of  their  varied  duties,  looking  to  the 
interests  of  the  educational  cause  in  San  Francisco,  "  without 
fear  or  favor."  The  carpings  of  newspaper  critics,  and  the 
snarlings  of  anonymous  correspondents,  have  had  no  terrors 


6 

for  them,  and  they  have  gone  on  in  the  even  tenor  of  their 
way,  uninfluenced  by  the  one,  unawed  by  the  other. 

Deeming  that  a  proper  regard  for  the  regulations  adopted 
for  the  government  of  the  schools  of  San  Francisco,  as  well  as 
the  common  school  interest,  demanded  the  removal  of  Mr. 
Pelton  for  a  flagrant  infraction  of  those  rules,  and  conduct  un- 
becoming the  head  of  one  of  the  principal  schools  of  the  city, 
they  saw  fit  to  remove  him.  That  the  public  may  judge  fairly 
and  impartially  of  the  matter,  and  that  no  charge  of  a  desire 
to  influence  public  opinion  for  ulterior  purposes  might  be 
urged  in  the  premises,  the  publication  of  a  full  and  impartial 
history  of  this  case,  with  the  finding  of  the  Committee  of  Inves- 
tigation, its  endorsement  by  the  Board,  and  all  matters  bearing 
upon  the  case,  has  been  delayed  until  the  present.  Acting,  as 
they  feel  assured  they  have  done,  conscientiously  in  the  prem- 
ises, and  for  the  best  interests  of  the  charge  placed  in  their  hands 
by  the  suffrages  of  the  citizens  of  San  Francisco,  whatever  the 
verdict  of  the  people  may  have  been  in  this  case,  they  are 
willing  to  stand  by  the  record,  and  abide  its  final  result.  The 
following  statement  is  accordingly  presented,  giving  the  result 
of  the  facts  and  evidence,  drawn  out  by  a  long  and  laborious 
investigation,  suppressing  nothing  that  is  material  to  the  issue, 
and  giving  the  defendant  the  full  benefit  of  all  testimony  that 
makes  in  his  favor,  giving  no  one-sided,  or  ex  parte,  statements  ; 
but  endeavoring,  as  far  as  in  our  power,  to  give  a  fair  and 
candid  review  of  all  the  facts  bearing  upon  the  material  points 
of  the  case. 

The  first  evidence  upon  record  of  the  antagonistic  attitude 
assumed  by  Mr.  Pelton  to  the  Board  of  Education,  and  his 
efforts  to  detract  from  and  weaken  the  influence  of  that  body, 
in  his  endeavors  to  make  the  same  an  object  of  censure  and 
public  odium,  appears  in  a  series  of  communications  and  edi- 
torial articles  published  in  various  city  papers.  In  this  de- 
partment the  gentleman  certainly  exhibits  a  zeal  and  industry 
worthy  a  better  cause;  and  the  persistency  with  which  he 
flooded  the  papers  of  this  city  with  his  missives  directed  against 
the  Board,  are  alike  indicative  of  his  peculiar  qualities  of  head 
and  heart.     There  is  scarce  a  paper  published  here,  from  the 


highest  to  the  lowest,  that  he  did  not  seek  to  make  the  medium 
of  these  continued  attacks,  and  the  organ  of  his  self-concocted 
malignity.  When  interrogated  upon  this  matter,  he  confessed 
to  the  authorship  of  seven  articles  of  this  character,  which  he 
pointed  out.  How  many  more  of  a  like  character  he  may 
have  written,  incited,  or  been  instrumental  in  the  publication 
of,  we  are  unable  to  determine — but  that  he  was  at  the  bottom 
of  the  various  newspaper  attacks  which  have  been  made  upon 
the  Board  of  Education  during  the  past  year,  is  a  fact  estab- 
lished beyond  dispute.  A  large  number  of  these  articles  were 
written  at  u  time  when  Mr.  Pelton  was  in  the  employ  of  the 
party  he  was  so  persistently  assailing,  and  whose  influence  he 
was  endeavoring  to  injure  by  this  series  of  covert  and  insidious 
attacks,  thereby  injuring  the  cause  of  education,  which  it  was 
his  duty,  as  an  employee  of  the  Board  and  a  principal  teacher 
of  one  of  the  public  schools  of  this  city,  to  sustain  by  all  fair 
and  honorable  means.  His  first  endeavor  is,  by  a  series  of  direct 
charges  and  speciously-worded  inuendoes,  to  create  a  prejudice 
against  the  Board  of  Education,  in  getting  the  idea  before  the 
public  that  they  are  not  men  of  families,  and  having  no  children 
educating  at  the  public  schools,  are  consequently  unfitted  for  the 
positions  they  hold,  as  directors  of  the  educational  system  of 
our  city  ;  and  does  this  at  the  very  time  he  was  sending  his  own 
children  to  a  private  school.  As  this  matter  has  been  the  subject 
of  much  discussion,  both  in  the  newspapers  and  upon  the  outside, 
and  as  Mr.  Pelton 's  counsel,  in  his  unwearied  efibrts  to  make 
"the  worse  appear  the  better  reason,"  has  studiously  endeavored 
to  gloss  this  matter  over  in  his  remarks  before  the  Committee, 
and  in  his  address  to  the  public,  covering  up  the  specious  de- 
sign of  the  writer,  and  concealing  the  motive  by  which  he  was 
actuated,  we  give  the  initial  communication,  which  appeared  in 
the  "  Daily  Morning  Call"  of  April  26, 186i,  that  an  impartial 
public  may  judge  of  the  consistency  and  propriety  of  the  course 
pursued  by  the  writer  in  the  premises,  and  the  credibility  of 
his  statements  in  point  of  fact.  The  discovery  of  the  author- 
ship of  this  communication  was  by  the  merest  accident,  but 
for  which  the  writer  might  for  a  long  time  have  remained  un- 
known, and  continued  to  stab  his  employers  in  the  dark, 
and  direct  his  missiles  unobserved,    secure    in  his  conceal- 


8 

ment.  A  short  time  previous  to  the  appearance  of  the  article 
we  copy  entire,  Dr.  Dodge,  member  of  the  Board  from  the 
Third  District,  called  at  the  Rincon  School,  during  school 
hours,  and,  as  was  usually  the  case,  found  the  head  of  the  in- 
stitution absent,  and  away  from  his  duties.  Upon  entering  the 
teacher's  room  and  taking  a  seat,  to  await  his  return,  his  eyes 
fell  upon  a  paper,  open,  and  fully  exposed  to  public  view,  in 
which,  observing  at  first  glance  his  own  name  occupying  a 
prominent  position,  he  considered  himself  fully  entitled  to 
read.  Upon  the  appearance  of  the  article  in  print,  a  few  days 
after,  there  could  be  no  question  as  to  its  authorship.  Upon 
being  taxed  with  it,  Mr,  Pelton  admitted  the  fact  of  having 
written  it,  as  well  as  half  a  dozen  others  relating  to  school 
matters : 

"  The  Personnel  of  the  Board  of  Education. — Nobody 
will  dispute  the  average  respectability  and  intelligence  of  the 
present  Board  of  Education  ;  but,  are  many  of  them  just  such 
as  citizens  interested  in  the  subject  would  coolly  select  for  the 
office  they  fill  ?  "What  peculiar  fitness  or  qualification  recom- 
mends them  for  their  position?  Let  us,  without  prejudice, 
examine  the  matter  a  little.  It  will  do  no  harm.  Let  us  see  who 
now  constitute  the  Board  of  Education,  and  observe  what 
their  claims  may  be. 

From  the  First  District,  we  have  Mr,  Mastick,  lumber  dealer 
— a  successful,  energetic  business  man — we  believe  a  carpen- 
ter by  trade — an  honest,  good  man,  at  any  rate.  But  here  his 
peculiar  fitness  ends.     He  is  without  children. 

From  the  Second  District,  J.  F.  Pope,  well  known  as  an 
honest,  intelligent  gentleman,  of  fair  education,  and  of  aver- 
age abilities.  He  has  to  recommend  him,  however,  to  his 
present  connection  with  our  school  department,  what  no  other 
member  of  the  Board  of  Education  can  claim,  to  wit :  one 
child  in  the  public  schools  of  this  city  !  Is  not  this  a  very 
strange  circumstance  ? 

Dr.  Dodge,  an  amiable,  kind-hearted  man,  with  no  children, 
represents  the  Third  District. 

The  Fourth  District  is  represented  by  Mr.  Hitchcock,  sta- 
tioner.    He  is  blessed  with  no  children  for  the  public  schools. 

From  the  Fifth  District  we  have  Mr.  S.  Storey,  a  gentleman 
of  leisure  and  means,  of  capacity  and  intelligence,  but  unfor- 
tunately a  bachelor;  and  so  also,  unfortunately,  the  Sixth 
District  has  recently  been  placed  in  charge  of  Mr.  Giles  Gray, 
an  agreeable  younfjf  man,  with  all  the  needful  qualifications, 
except  those  most  desirable — a  family. 


9 

The  Seventh  District  is  represented  by  Mr.  Wm.  G.  Badger, 
who  needs  not  an  introduction  to  the  readers  of  the  "Call."  Our 
only  regret  in  this  connection  is,  that  the  public  schools  do  not 
enjoy  his  patronage ! 

Judge  Alexander  Campbell  ably  and  honestly  represents 
the  Eighth  District,  but  we  imagine* his  children,  if  he  ever 
had  any,  long  since  graduated. 

The  Ninth  is  vacant,  and  to  this  position  Mr.  Superinten- 
dent Tait  recently  nominated  Mr.  Jacob  Deeth,  with  whose  pe- 
culiar fitness  we  are  not  aware.  He  sends  no  children  to  the 
public  schools. 

Tenth  District  enjoys  the  earnest,  honest,  yet  very  quiet,  ser- 
vices of  Mr.  Widber,  druggist.  When  Mr.  W.  has  subjects  of 
liis  own  for  the  development  of  his  educational  talents — those 
which  will  exert  a  personal  and  immediate  interest  in  the 
schools  under  his  care — he  will  make  a  good  School  Director. 
Such  he  has  not  yet,  however. 

Eleventh  District  sends  to  the  Board  Mr.  M.  Lynch,  Secre- 
tary of  the  Fire  Department  and  President  of  the  Board  of 
Education.  He  is  a  gentleman  well  qualified  for  his  import- 
ant position,  except  in  the  essential — a  family  and  children. 
Such  he  has  not  yet,  however. 

Twelfth  District,  Mr.  D.  Lunt,  and  unfortunately  the  same 
objection  holds  against  the  latter  as  to  the  former. 

Now,  in  re-examining  the  above  list,  what  do  we  find?  A 
Board  of  Education,  consisting  of  twelve  gentlemen,  elected 
with  special  reference  to  their  peculiar  fitness  for  the  discharge 
of  the  most  important  duties  devolving  upon  any  officers  un- 
der the  Government — the  proper  education  of  the  people's 
children — about  three-fourths  of  whom  are  without  children  or 
fiimilies — the  whole  twelve  of  whom  patronize  and  bless  the 
Public  School  Department  with  which  they  are  associated,  and 
for  which  they  are  now  laboring,  with  one — just  one — pupil? 
Is  this  right?  A  set  of  bachelors  and  married  men,  without 
families,  in  charge  of  the  children  of  the  community  ?" 

So  far  from  the  charges  contained  in  the  foregoing  commu- 
nication being  true,  in  point  of  fact,  nine  out  of  the  eleven 
members  of  the  Board  of  Education,  at  the  time  of  its  publi- 
cation, were  married  men — the  bare-faced  statements  and  cun- 
ningly-worded inuendoes  of  the  Principal  of  the  Rincon  School 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  Setting  aside  the  indelicacy 
of  an  employee  of  the  Board — a  teacher  of  one  of  the  public 
schools  subject  to  its  government — resorting  to  the  low  subter- 
fuges of  an  anonymous  newspaper  scribbler,  to  covertly  attack, 


10 

villify,  ridicule  and  defame  that  body,  Mr.  Pelton  is  convicted 
upon  his  own  confession,  he  having  acknowledged  the  author- 
ship of  this  and  a  half  dozen  other  anonymous  newspaper 
articles — of  publishing  a  wilful  and  deliberate  falsehood,  that  he 
might  lower  that  body  in  the  public  estimation  to  subserve  his 
own  selfish  and  sinister  ends.  If  such  is  the  rnan  who  is  to 
be  held  up  to  the  youth  educating  in  our  public  schools  as  an 
exemplar  in  morals  and  a  model  of  correct  deportment,  then 
indeed  have  we  fallen  upon  evil  times. 

In  order  to  show  his  own  view  of  the  character  of  his  arti- 
cle above  given,  and  the  others  written  by  him,  and  the  mo- 
tives which  induced  him  to  write  and  publish  them,  we  here 
present  his  answer  to  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  Mr. 
Lunt,  who  hud  been  directed  to  ask  him  for  an  explanation  of 
his  conduct  in  the  matter. 

His  answer  is  characteristic  of  the  man,  and  needs  only  to 
be  placed  side  by  side  with  the  above  article  in  order  to  show 
his  entire  unworthiness  of  belief  on  any  question  in  the  result 
of  which  he  is  personally  interested  : 

D.  LcKT,  Esq. — 

Dear  Sir: — I  am  in  receipt  of  your  note  in  behalf  of  the  Ciinvassing  Commiltee, 
requesting  me  "to  inform"  said  committee  "what  articles  I  have  published  in 
regard  to  the  Hon.  Board  of  Education:  "  cilso,  requesting  me  "  to  furnish  a  copy 
of  said  articles,"  and  "  to  state  the  motives  which  prompted  me  in  writing  them." 

In  answer.  I  beg  to  say  that  your  requ3sts,  prompted,  as  I  am  sure  they  are, 
by  kind  intentions  and  feelings  toward  myself,  are  hereby  very  readily  and  cheer- 
fully complied  with. 

Your  inquiries  I  presume,  have  reference,  only,  to  those  articles  of  recent  date. 
During  the  past  month,  I  have  written  for  publication,  several  short  and  unimpor- 
tant communications,  on  various  school  topics.  These  have  all  appeared  in  the 
"Morning  Call"  from  which  they  have  t)een  clipped,  and  are  hereby  placed  at 
your  service.  I  have  also  designated  them  in  the  scrap  book  kept  in  ihe  Super- 
intendent's office,  and  should  you  so  desire,  Mr.  Tait  will  point  them  out  to  you ; 
but  I  think  they  will  scarcely  repay  your  perusal. 

In  all  the  articles  in  question  I  have,  as  you  will  perceive,  twice  alluded  to  the 
Hon.  Board  of  Education,  and  once  referred  to  the  gentlemen  composing  the  same. 
I  beg  you  to  carefully  note  the  language  of  these  references,  and  obtain  correct 
ideas  as  to  the  spirit  which  prompted  each  and  all  of  them.  If  you  wonld  cor- 
rectly understand  the  spirit  and  intent  of  them,  please  consider  them  as  a  whole. 
When  you  have  done  this,  gentlemen,  I  feel  assured  that  you  will  at  once  acquit 
me  of,  at  least,  all  intentional  wrong  toward  any  one;  of  anything  approaching 
hostility,  disrespect,  or  discourtesy  toward  the  Hon.  Board  of  Educaiijn  or  any 
member  thereof;  all  such  motives  and  feelings  I  can,  and  do  hereby,  most  sin- 
cerely and  truly  disclaim,  not  only  in  relation  to  the  matter  in  question,  but  in  re- 
gard to  all  my  acts  and  intercourse  with  and  motives  toward  said  Board  and  its 
members,  since  it  has  been  my  privilege  and  pleasure  to  be  connected  with  the 
School  Department.  Nothing  but  feelings  of  the  utmost  kindness  and  respect 
have  ever,  or  do  now,  or  as  I  trust,  will  ever  actuate  me.  Xo  man  can  instance 
an  act  or  word  of  mine  not  in  accordance  herewith. 


11  * 

As  to  the  particular  motive  or  inteution  of  each  of  the  several  articles  submitted 
to  j'Oii,  I  can  Hcarcely  suppose  you  intend  to  in([uire ;  I  have,  however,  spol^en  of 
the  whole  matter  to  several  members  of  your  committee,  as  well  as  to  yourself, 
with  entire  frankness.  I  doubt  not  you  or  other  gentlemen  of  your  committee 
will,  if  necessary,  be  kind  euougli  to  more  particularly  explain  anj'thing  I  may 
have  herein  omitted.  I  ask  no  apology  from  you  or  from  any  other  friend  in  your 
committee,  but  a  full  and  fair  exposition  of  circumstances  and  facts  regarding  any 
of  my  acta.  I  certainly  feel  that  I  need  nothing  more  with  the  gentlemen  com- 
posing your  committee,  or  with  the  Hon.  Board  of  Education. 

I  remain,  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen  of  Canvassing  Committtee,  with  due  re- 
spect, your  obedient  servant,  J.  C.  Pelton. 

May  IGth,  1864. 

Mr.  Pelton's  next  move  exhibits  his  utter  disregard  of  the 
rules  adopted  by  the  Board  for  the  government  of  the  schools, 
and  of  that  strict  line  of  discipline  and  conduct  which  it  is  so 
essential  that  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools,  of  all  others, 
should  observe  to  the  letter,  that  he  may,  by  his  example,  im- 
press its  importance  upon  the  pupils  under  his  charge.  Being 
made  fully  and  painfully  aware  of  the  evil  results  attending 
the  holding  of  public  festivals  by  the  School  Department,  in 
which  outside  parties  were  allowed  to  participate  without  dis- 
crimination, and  from  which  it  is  impossible  to  exclude  im- 
proper characters,  a  regulation  was  adopted,  peremptorily  pro- 
hibiting the  holding  of  any  festival  or  exhibition^  except  upon 
permission  obtained  from  the  Board  for  such  purpose.  No 
more  cogent  reason  for  the  adoption  of  this  stringent  rule 
would  be  given  than  that  enunciated  by  the  counsel  for  the 
defense  in  this  case,  in  his  special  pleading  to  his  "jury  of  the 
people,"  assembled  to  hear  his  harangue  on  the  eve  of  the  late 
municipal  election.  In  the  course  of  his  remarks,  exhibiting 
his  desire  to  earn  the  five  hundred  dollar  fee,  contingent  upon 
the  election  of  his  client,  speaking  of  some  of  these  prohibi- 
ted festivals,  he  stated  that  at  some  of  them  "the  most  noto- 
rious libertines  of  the  town  were  seen  whirling  with  school 
girls  in  the  giddy  mazes  of  the  dance."  The  necessity  for  the 
adoption  of  such  a  rule,  and  the  importance  of  its  strict  ob- 
servance and  stringent  enforcement,  must  be  fully  apparent  to 
every  one  at  all  conversant  with  the  circumstances,  and  from 
his  long  years  of  experience,  claiming  as  he  does  to  be  the 
pioyieer  (?)  teacher  of  San  Francisco,  no  one  could  have  been 
more  fully  aware  of  this  fact  than  Mr.  Pelton.  Without  com- 
pliance with  the  provisions  of  this  rule,  and  in  direct  opposi- 


%  12 

tioD  to  its  plain  prohibition,  he  advertises  in  the  newspapers  of 
the  day  a  public  excursion  of  schools,  appending  to  the  notice 
of  invitation  the  names  of  other  teachers,  not  one  of  whom 
ever  authorized  or  sanctioned  the  use  of  their  names  in  such 
connection.  The  appearance  of  this  public  notice  on  the  28th 
of  May,  1864,  was  the  first  intimation  had  by  the  Board  of 
Mr.  Pelton's  extraordinary  procedure  in  this  matter.  At  the 
instance  of  Mr.  Badger,  the  Director  from  the  Seventh  Dis- 
trict and  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Rules  and  Regulations, 
a  special  meeting  was  called  April  29th,  1864,  to  take  the 
affair  into  consideration.  All  the  members  were  present,  ex- 
cept those  from  the  Tenth  and  Twelfth  Districts,  the  vacancy 
in  the  Ninth  District  not  having  been  filled.  At  this  meeting 
the  following  resolution,  which,  with  the  notice  appended 
thereto,  was  published  in  the  papers  of  the  next  day,  was 
unanimously  adopted: 

Resolved^  That  the  following  notice  shall  be  published  in 
the  morning  papers,  and  in  the  "  Evening  Bulletin  "  of  Satur- 
day, Sunday  and  Monday  next: 

Notice. — The  Board  of  Education  have  not,  in  any  manner, 
authorized  the  excursion  of  the  Public  Schools,  advertised  to 
take  place  on  Monday,  May  2d,  1864,  to  Redwood  City. 

At  the  same  meeting  the  Chairman,  Mr.  Badger,  the  Super- 
intendent of  Schools,  and  President  of  the  Board,  were  ap- 
pointed a  Committee  of  Investigation.  This  Committee  accord- 
ingly reported  at  a  subsequent  meeting,  held  the  ensuing  week, 
presenting  communications  from  all  the  other  Grammar  Mas- 
ters, whose  names  had  been  appended  to  the  notice  of  this 
excursion,  stating  that  they  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
the  affair,  and  that  their  names,  as  well  as  those  of  their  schools, 
had  been  used  by  Mr.  Pelton  without  their  knowledge  and 
consent ;  which  statements  they  afterward,  upon  examination, 
verified  in  open  Board,  upon  which  they  were  exonerated  from 
all  blame  in  this  connection.  As  Mr.  Pelton,  after  the  publica- 
tion of  the  foregoing  notice  by  the  Board,  disapproving  his 
action  in  the  premises,  persisted  in  carrying  out  his  original 
design,  thus  publicly  setting  the  authority  of  his  superiors  at 
defiance ;  they  considered  it  alike  due  to  their  own  self-respect, 
and  the  vindication  of  the  rules  adopted  by  them  for  the  gov- 


13 

ernmcnt  of  the  schools,  that  their  infraction  in  this  case  de- 
served a  public  rebuke,  and  the  following  resolution  of  cen- 
sure was  accordingly  passed. 

Whereas,  Mr.  J.  C.  Pelton,  at  present  a  Grammar  Master, 
has  been  charged  with  violating  Section  12,  of  miscellaneous 
rules,  by  holding,  or  causing  to  be  held  at  Redwood  City,  on 
the  2d  of  May,  1864,  a  pic  nic  and  festival,  and  has  been 
called  upon  to  show  cause  why  he  should  not  be  considered 
guilty  as  charged,  and  has  rendered  his  answer  in  writing, 
which  answer  having  been  read  in  open  Board,  and  considered 
insufficient,  therefore  : 

Resolved^  That  the  said  J.  C.  Pelton,  is  hereby  adjudged 
guilty  of  violation  of  said  Section  12,  of  Rules,  and  is  hereby 
publicly  censured  by  the  Board  for  violating  the  rules. 

In  his  answer  referred  to  in  the  foregoing  preamble,  among 
other  things  Mr.  Pelton  says :  "  I  then  did  have  some  commu- 
nication with  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Rules  and 
Regulations ;  also,  with  the  Director  of  my  District^  and  one  or 
two  other  members  of  the  Board  of  Education.  From  all 
these  gentlemen  I  thought  I  received  a  cordial  endorsement  of 
my  proposed  excursion,  and  certainly,  neither  of  them  intima- 
ted the  necessity  of  the  formal  action  of  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion, and  hence,  if  from  no  other  reason,  I  presumed  there  was 
none  ;  I,  with  other  teachers,  enjoyed  an  excursion  and  pic  nic 
with  my  pupils,  last  year,  just  as  I  have  this,  except  as  to  ex- 
tent, and  without  any  previous  action  of  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion." 

So  far  as  the  implied  consent  of  the  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Rules  and  Regulations  conveyed  in  the  loregoing 
statement  is  concerned,  we  have  shown  that  that  gentleman 
took  the  initiative  in  calling  the  Board  together  to  repudiate 
Mr.  Pelton's  action,  in  every  particular ;  and  as  for  obtaining 
the  consent  of  the  Director  of  his  district,  there  was  no  such 
personage  at  that  time  in  existence,  there  being  a  vacancy  in  the 
Ninth  District,  which  was  not  filled  until  the  appointment  of 
Mr.  Thompson,  on  May  18th,  186-4,  some  weeks  after  (see  Mr. 
Pelton's  "Personnel.")  The  excursion  or  pic  nic,  which  Mr. 
Pelton  says,  he  with  other  teachers  enjoyed  with  his  pupils 
the  year  previous,  was  a  widely  different  affair  from  his  public 
excursion  to  Redwood  City.     Had  the  grammar  master  of 


14 

Rincon  school,  or  any  other  teacher  simply  desired  to  go 
quietly  and  without  a  public  parade,  upon  an  excursion  or 
pic  nic  with  the  members  of  his  school,  no  possible  objection 
could  or  would  have  been  made  by  the  Board;  but  when, 
without  consultation  with,  or  authority  from  them,  he  gets  up, 
and  advertises  with  a  grand  flourish  in  flaming  terms  in  the 
newspapers,  an  excursion  of  the  Public  Schools  to  which  all 
creation  is  invited,  making  an  unauthorized  use  of  the  names 
of  other  grammar  masters,  and  other  schools,  and  by  impli- 
cation the  name  of  the  Public  School  Department  to  give  char- 
acter to  his  ovation,  they  considered  it  due  alike  to  the  author- 
ity vested  in  them,  and  the  interests  of  the  Department  under 
their  direction  and  control,  to  publicly  censure  such  glaring 
and  flagrant  insubordination.  Mr.  Pelton,  in  the  concluding 
portion  of  his  answer,  lays  considerable  stress  upon  the  fact, 
that  there  is  nothing  in  the  Manuel  prohibiting  in  direct  words, 
an  "excursion"  or  "picnic." 

In  the  same  writer's  letter  to  the  Examining  Committee, 
which  will  be  found  in  another  portion  of  this  exjyose,  he  frankly 
admits  that  he  ^^ failed  in  Algebra,  and  did  Utile  better  in  Arith- 
metic.^^ In  his  endeavors  to  make  it  appear  that  an  "  excur- 
sion" or  "  pic  nic  "  is  not  n  festival,  he  exhibits  an  equal  want 
of  knowledge  in  the  department  of  Philology;  the  youngest 
pupiljthat  attended  on  this  occasion,  might  well  have  taught  him 
that  the  terms  are  synonomous,  and  their  strict  meaning  identi- 
cally one  and  the  same.  That  the  very  objections  which  called 
into  existence  this  vitally  important  rule,  prohibiting  festivals 
and  excursions  except  with  permission  of  the  Board,  and  which 
were  portrayed  in  such  glowing  colors  by  Mr.  Pelton's  counsel 
on  the  occasion  referred  to,  existed  in  all  their  force  on  the  oc- 
casion of  this  pic  nic;  we  need  but  quote  the  following  ex- 
tract from  a  description  of  the  affair  which  appeared  in  the 
columns  of  a  city  paper  the  morning  after,  giving  in  italics, 
those  portions  which  more  fully  define  its  character : 

"  Getting  out  of  the  dry  and  dust}'  city,  and  seeing  the  old 
oaks,  green  fields,  and  timber  covered  mountains,  one  feels  al- 
most enthusiastic  over  the  country.  It  is  charming,  it  is  mag- 
nificent. The  spot  chosen  on  this  occasion,  the  shady  old  oaks 
with  their  gnarled  boughs,  here  hung  with  moss,  and  there 


15 

with  mistletoe ;  the  elder  trees  in  bloom,  and  the  fragrant  bay 
trees;  the  green  sward  underfoot;  the  hillsides  on  one  side, 
covered  with  stately  redwood  trees,  and  on  the  other,  the  Con- 
tra Costa  mountains,  with  Mount  Diablo  looming  up  in  the. far 
distance  behind  them,  all  was  grand.  It  was  just  the  place  to 
spend  a  warm  sunny  day  stretched  at  ease  "  under  the  greenwood 
tree^"*  or  lunching  in  a  merry  company,  or  strolling  off  into  more 
retired  portions  of  the  grove^  or  romping  with  the  children  in 
their  games,  or  dancing  on  the  well  prepared  floor,  each  one  fol- 
lowed his  or  her  inclination,  and  each  one  found  pleasure  at  hand. 
"There  were  family  circles,  here  were  lovers^  rambles^  ihere 
were  children's  frolics.  In  a  word  everything  was  as  well  ar- 
ranged, and  passed  off  with  as  much  satisfaction  as  possible." 

In  view  of  this  description  of  the  affair,  need  it  excite  sur- 
prise in  the  community  that  so  much  was  said  about  the  im- 
morality existing  in  the  Rincon  School,  of  which  the  public 
were  apprised  about  two  months  thereafter ;  and,  as  is  it  not 
probable  that  the  origin  of  it,  could  be  traced  in  part  if  not 
wholly  in  this  very  violation  of  the  rules  and  regulations  of 
the  department,  by  the  Principal  of  that  school? 

We  leave  the  matter  in  the  hands  of  the  thoughtful,  to  pon- 
der over  at  their  leisure. 

Before  dismissing  this  subject  we  would  state,  that  although 
May  parties  and  social  gatherings  had  been  held  in  times  past, 
by  the  various  schools,  none  such  was  ever  held  without  per- 
mission having  first  been  obtained  from  the  Board  by  the 
teacher  having  charge  of  the  same. 

Next,  and  for  the  sake  of  historical  succession,  we  review 
the  charges  in  this  case,  not  in  the  order  in  which  they  stand, 
as  they  are  preferred,  but  according  to  their  chronological 
dates,  we  come  to  the  Rincon  School  examination,  in  May, 
1864,  which  has  occupied  no  small  degree  of  attention  from 
the  press  and  the  public.  In  this  matter,  the  Grammar  Mas- 
ter and  Principal  of  the  School  plays  a  part,  alike  disgraceful 
to  a  man  holding  his  position,  detrimental  to  his  pupils,  and 
the  interests  of  public  education,  resorting  as  he  does  to  sub- 
terfuge to  cover  up  his  delinquency,  and  prevarication  to  pal- 
liate his  offense.  In  order  to  judge  by  comparison  of  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Public  Schools  of  San  Francisco,  by  contrast  with 
the  most  prominent  and  successful  in  the  Atlantic  cities,  the 


Examining  Committee  of  the  Board,  after  having  prepared 
questions  for  the  examination,  determined  to  adopt  tha 
questions  contained  in  the  report  of  the  Cincinnati  Common 
Schools,  their  reputation  being  among  the  highest  in  this  de- 
partment of  popular  education  in  the  East.  Mr.  Pel  ton, 
through  his  former  superintendency,  was  in  the  receipt  of  a 
copy  of  this  report,  and  it  appears  from  his  own  admissions,  as 
well  as  the  testimony  of  the  pupils,  that  he  dictated  the  ques- 
tions contained  in  it  to  his  school  to  copy,  which  copies  they 
retained,  and  that  a  number  were  allowed  to  take  the  book 
home  with  them.  To  verify  this  more  fully  we  give  the  tes- 
timony of  some  of  Mr.  Pelton's  pupils  in  relation  to  this  essen- 
tially important  matter : 

Testimony  taken  at  the  State  Normal  School  Building  hy  George 
2aitj  at  the  request  of  the  Committee,  at  which  tuo  members  were 
present  at  the  Investigation. 
Statement  of  Miss  Barnard,  one  of  the  pupils  of  the  Rincon  School: 

My  number  Id  the  last  examination  (of  Rincon  Grammar  ^chcol),  was  35.  I 
obtained  49  per  cent,  of  correct  answers  at  the  examination. 

Quesiiou. — What  was  the  reason  of  your  faihire  in  the  examination? 

Answer. — I  know  as  much  as  many  who  passed  the  examination;  but  you 
know  a  great  many  cheated;  they  talked  to  each  other;  as  soon  as  one  would 
find  out  the  answers  they  would  communicate.  I  saw  ihe  questions  (printed  for 
the  examination),  before  the  examination  took  place.  I  can  bring  the  copy  I 
made  of  these  questions  when  at  school,  and  also  a  copy  of  t  e  answers  to  these 
questions.     I  have  the  questions  on  Ariihmetia  G.ammar  and  11  story." 

Q. — Did  Mr.  Pelton  say  anylliing  to  your  class  in  regard  to  the  questions  alter 
the  class  had  discovered  that  they  were  the  same  that  you  had  had,  before  the 
examination? 

A.— He  said,  "  1  told  you  it  might  be  to  your  benefit  to  study." 

Miss  Sophie  Cadt. — I  have  been  a  member  of  the  first  class  one  year.  I  got 
42^  per  cent,  in  tiie  examination. 

Q. — Was  any  injustice  done  you  in  the  examination? 

A. — Yes;  some  girls  studied  the  "  Cincinnati  Report ;  "  several  scholars  com- 
municated; I  copied  tiie  questions  used  in  the  examination,  took  them  home,  and 
have  not  looked  at  them  since  examination. 

Miss  A.  Sawyeb  (No.  55  in  the  examination  ) — I  got  fifty-one  credits  in  exam- 
ination ;  have  been  one  year  in  the  class ;  I  saw  several  of  the  class  whispering ; 
the  Examiner  and  Teacher  could  have  seen  them ;  I  had  the  questions  out  of  the 
"  Cincinnati  Report,'  which  I  copied  from  the  dictation  of  Mr.  Pelton;  I  found  out 
the  answers  to  them  at  home. 

Q. — Did  any  of  the  class  say  anything  when  the  questions  were  first  given  out 
and  recognized  ? 

A. — Yes;  they  said,  "  Oh,  we've  had  them  before!"  I  recollect  having  seen  the 
Grammar  and  History  questions  before  they  were  given  out  at  the  High  School 
Examination;  one  of  the  girls  took  the  'Cincinnati  Report"  home  and  studied  the 
questions ;  after  we  found  out  that  (hat  look  was  going  to  be  used,  other  girls 
asked  Mr.  Pelton  if  they,  too,  might  not  have  the  use  of  the  book?  Mr.  Pelton  re- 
plied, "Wait  until  she  (Carrie  Hook)  is  through  with  it  J" 


17 

With  this  proof  before  the  committee  as  to  the  questions 
from  the  "  Cincinnati  Keport"  having  been  used  in  the  Rin. 
con  School,  and  in  order  to  allow  Mr.  Pelton  to  explain  the 
matter,  a  communication  was  addressed  to  him  by  Mr.  Gray, 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  High  Schools,  asking  him  to 
inform  the  committee  if  any  unfair  means  were  used  by  his 
pupils  at  the  late  examination,  so  far  as  his  knowledge  ex- 
tended ;  and  also,  whether  he  was  aware  of  any  reason  why 
the  examination  was  less  severe  to  his  scholars  than  to  those  of 
either  of  the  other  Grammar  Schools. 

To  this  plain  and  direct  inquiry,  and  with  the  full  know- 
ledge before  him  of  the  use  made  by  his  scholars  of  these 
questions,  but  apparently  not  supposing  that  the  members  of 
the  Board  had  been  informed  of  this  fact,  he  replied  in  a 
lengthy  letter,  saying  that  no  unfoir  means  had  been  used  by 
them  so  far  as  he  was  aware,  and  that  no  reason  existed  why 
the  examination  was  less  severe  to  them  than  to  the  scholars 
of  the  other  Grammar  Schools,  except  their  previous  drilling^ 
and  wound  up  by  complaining  that  he  thought  his  pupils  had 
not  had  as  fair  a  chance  at  the  examination  as  those  of  some 
of  the  other  schools! 

Afterward,  when  the  matter  was  brought  before  the  Board 
for  investigation,  and  the  proof  there  adduced  to  show  the  un- 
fairness of  the  examination  in  his  school,  and  the  great  advan- 
tage thereby  obtained  by  his  pupils,  was  so  full,  direct,  and 
overwhelming  that  it  was  useless  for  him  longer  to  deny  it; 
he  then  admitted  that  he  had  dictated  some  of  the  questions 
to  his  pupils  to  copy  previous  to  the  examination,  which  they 
had  done,  yet  he  protested  against  a  re-examination  of  his 
class,  and  with  that  nice  and  accurate  sense  of  justice  for  which 
he  is  noted,  contended  that  they  had  only  received  the  infini- 
tesimal benefit  of  one  eighth  of  one  per  cent/ 

"While  Mr.  Pelton  may  have  been  at  the  outset  unaware  of 
the  selection  of  these  questions  by  the  Committee,  after  the 
fact  was  made  known  to  him,  he  failed  to  communicate  the 
knowledge  of  the  use  which  he  had  made  of  this  report,  and 
during  the  progress  of  the  examination  allowed  the  book  to 
remain  on  his  desk,  for  consultation  by  his  pupils,  to  refresh 


18 

their  memories,  thus  giving  them  an  unfair  advantage  over 
those  of  the  other  schools.  The  consequences  of  the  advan- 
tage thus  surreptitiously  obtained  were,  that  Mr.  Pelton's  school 
came  through  the  examination  with  flying  colors,  bearing  away 
the  palm  from  the  others — the  Rincon  School  presenting  by 
far  the  largest  number  of  candidates  for  High  School  honors, 
was,  of  course,  trumpeted  forth  as  the  model  of  the  depart- 
ment, and  its  principal  the  most  successful  of  teachers.  It 
coming  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Board,  through  the  complaints 
of  the  pupils  attending  the  other  schools,  that  Mr.  Pelton's 
scholars  had  had  the  advantage  over  them,  and  they  had  not 
been  fairly  dealt  with  in  the  premises,  the  Board,  as  an  act  of 
justice  to  all  concerned — to  the  pupils  deprived  of  this  advan- 
tage, to  themselves,  and  the  public  at  large  interested  in  the 
matter — proceeded  promptly  to  investigate  the  affair,  and  the 
foregoing  facts  being  elicited  upon  examination  of  both  pupils 
and  teachers,  they  decided  that  the  only  reparation  that  could 
be  made  in  the  premises,  was  to  order  a  re-examination  of  Mr. 
Pelton's  class,  which  that  gentleman  most  vehemently  opposed, 
claiming  that  the  benefit  derived  by  his  pupils  from  this  pre- 
vious drilling  in  the  questions  that  were  used  on  the  final  ex- 
amination, did  not  amount  to  more  than  one  eighth  of  one  per 
cent.  In  order  to  cover  up  his  own  tergiversation  and  petty 
little  fraud,  so  innocently  perpetrated  in  allowing  this  game  to 
be  practised,  winking  the  while  at  the  advantage  taken  of 
pupils  not  similarly  favored,  he,  with  that  want  of  candor  and 
fair-dealing  which  has  characterised  his  entire  connection  with 
the  Public  Schools  from  first  to  last,  endeavored  to  palliate  this 
fragrant  outrage  upon  the  rights  of  the  pupils  of  the  other 
schools,  as  well  as  the  good  name  and  standing  of  the  entire 
department,  by  the  base  and  unfounded  charge  that  other 
teachers  had  had  copies  of  the  "Cincinnati  Report,"  and  that  their 
pupils  had  had  like  access  to,  and  availed  themselves  of  the 
information  contained  in  its  pages.  This  charge,  like  all  simi- 
lar ones  emanating  from  the  same  source,  was  proved  upon  in- 
vestigation to  be  the  coinage  of  its  author's  brain,  so  fertile  in 
expedient,  and  apt  in  excuse,  when  detected  in  practices  alike 
unbecoming  a  man  of  truth  and  candor,  and  a  teacher,  and 


19 

head  of  a  scbool,  who  is  presumed  to  present  to  the  pupils  un- 
der his  charge,  in  his  daily  walks  and  conversation,  a  model 
of  correct  deportment  and  fair  dealing  for  their  study  and  in- 
formation. 

While  upon  this  subject,  we  would  state  that  the  charge 
against  the  Principal  of  the  Rincon  School  of  encouraging  by 
his  own  daily  example  the  practice  of  falsehood,  hypocrisy 
and  deceit,  were  fully  sustained  by  the  evidence.  In  order  to 
render  the  ordeal  less  trying  and  avoid  any  mortification  to 
either  scholars  or  their  parents,  that  might  arise  from  a  failure 
to  stand  the  test,  the  questions  used  upon  this  second  exami- 
nation were  about  of  the  same  tenor  and  grade  as  those  pre- 
viously used.  Notwithstanding  this,  certain  city  papers  in  the 
interest  oi  tho,  persecuted  patriot  Pelton,  and  for  whose  columns 
he  devoted  that  time  to  writing  lampoons  and  concocting  com- 
munications bespattering  his  employers,  that  was  due  to  his 
contract  with  them  as  a  teacher,  abused  the  Board  roundly 
for  practising  this  act  of  simple  justice  to  all  parties  concerned. 

This  would-he  victim  of  tyranny  and  oppression,  has  been 
^alike  successful  in  his  employment  of  that  mightier  weapon 
"in  the  hands  of  men  entirely  great" — than  the  sword — "  the 
gray  goose  quill ;"  and  the  oily  tongue  of  the  counsel  allowed 
by  the  courtesy  of  the  committee,  to  conduct  his  defense  be- 
fore them,  and  who,  to  render  the  payment  of  his  fee  secure 
beyond  peradventure,  bj^  the  election  of  his  client  to  the  office 
of  Superintendent  of  Schools,  adjourned  the  argument  of  the 
case  from  before  the  committee  to  what  he  was  pleased  to  term 
"a  jury  of  the  public,"  assembled  at  Piatt's  Hall  the  night 
preceding  the  late  municipal  election.  In  this  solemn  farce, 
in  which,  so  far  as  both  clitnt  and  counsel  were  concerned, 
and  which  might,  in  common  parlance,  be  truly  styled  a  '^free 
blow,^^  the  latter,  with  a  substantial  background  of  "  platform 
statuary" — the  stage  being  set  with  a  special  eye  to  scenic,  if 
not  moral,  effect  —  "  the  victim  of  systematic  persecution," 
whose  fancied  wrongs  were  portrayed  in  such  glowing  colors 
on  the  occasion,  forming  the  key -stone  to  the  human  arch,  was 
intensely  edified,  doubtless,  at  his  advocates'  lucid  explanation 
of  his  answer  to  the  question  concerning  the  angle  of  the  axis 


20 

of  the  earth  with  the  plane  of  its  orbit,  and  the  recital  of  the 
imaginary  injuries  he  had  received  from  those  whose  forbear- 
ance he  had  abused,  and  at  whom,  with  the  cowardice  of  the 
midnight  assassin,  and  lacking  the  boldness  of  the  bravo,  he 
had  aimed  his  malignant  missive,  and  hurled  his  pointless 
shafts,  secure,  as  he  supposed,  until  detected  in  his  nefarious 
practices,  in  his  hiding  place  behind  the  teacher's  desk.  Until 
these  wrongs  were  depicted  in  such  glowing  colors  on  this  oc- 
casion, their  victim  was  doubtless  unaware  of  the  extent  of  the 
injury  that  had  been  done  him — like  the  suitor,  who,  upon 
hearing  the  eloquent  harangue  of  his  paid  counsel,  reciting  his 
grievances,  burst  into  tears  in  open  court,  exclaiming  that  he 
really  "  had  not  known  how  much  he  had  suffered  until  he  had 
heard  his  lawyer  plead  his  cause."  As  was  the  case  with  his 
defense  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  pirates,  the  counsel  labored 
most  assiduously  to  torture  facts  and  distort  evidence,  that  he 
might,  with  his  usual  adaptability  to  any  case,  make  "the 
worse  appear  the  better  reason."  He  waxed  eloquent  over 
the  ruthless  oppression  of  his  client  by  the  tyrannical  Board  of 
Education,  and  their  dismissal  of  him  for  his  ungentlemanly' 
deportment,  unmanly  conduct,  incompetency,  and,  above  all, 
practices  grossly  outraging  morality,  and  in  the  highest  degree 
unbecoming  a  teacher  of  the  youth  of  our  schools.  We  will 
here  state  that,  unwilling  to  damage  his  professional  reputa- 
tion and  jeopardize  his  chances  for  employment  elsewhere,  the 
Board  forbore  the  public  expose  which  j  ustice  alike  to  themselves 
and  the  public,  compels  us  now  to  make  of  the  facts  called 
out  by  this  investigation,  demanded  by  Mr.  Pelton  himself. 
His  counsel,  in  his  Bombastes  Furioso  effort  at  Piatt's  Hall, 
charged  that,  like  "sleuth-hounds,"  the  Board  of  Education 
had  hunted  his  client  down,  and  sought  his  ruin,  when  his 
little  family  were  suffering,  and  the  wolf  was  at  his  door. 
Now,  although  not  brought  out  directly  in  this  investigation, 
but  since  this  side  issue  has  been  opened  up  by  counsel,  we 
are  prepared  to  show,  from  the  records  of  the  Department, 
that  Mr.  Pelton  has  drawn,  in  times  gone  by,  some  thousands 
of  dollars  from  the  public  school  fund,  surreptitiously  obtain- 
ing, in  one  instance,  a  large  amount  in  coin,  which  was  in  re»'' 


21 

ity  due  only  in  scriij)  and  so  far  from  the  gaunt  wolf  being  at 
his  door,  the  loolf  in  sheep's  clothing  was  really  inside,  licking 
his  chaps  over  a  mutton  chop,  and  laughing  at  the  success  of 
the  numerous  little  artful  dodges  he  had  played  off.  In  the 
course  of  his  remarks  before  the  Committee  of  Investigation, 
Mr.  Pixley,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  spoke  of  the  corrections 
administered  to  himself  in  his  school-boy  days  by  the  knight 
of  the  birch  and  ferrule.  Ilis  course  throughout  this  whole 
matter  shows  his  need  o^ further  corrections^  and  we  accordingly 
administer  a  corrective  in  the  following  extract  from  the  report 
of  the  Superintendent  of  Schools  of  February  28th,  1852,  as 
verified  by  the  records  of  the  Department : 

"  I  find  also  that  divers  warrants  have  been  paid  out  of  these 
tax  moneys  for  purposes  not  recognized  by  the  charter,  nor 
by  tjhe  ordinance  creating  the  Free  Common  Schools;  for  old 
debts  due  only  in  city  scrip,  and  for  the  payment  whereof  in 
scrijy  provision  had  been  made. 
"August  12th,  1851,  Warrant  issued  to  J.  C.  Pel- 
ton,  and  paid  October  20th $500  00 

"  September  5th,  1851,  Warrant  issued  to  J.  C.  Pel- 
ton,  and  paid  January  5th,  1852 877  42 

"October  1st,  1851,  Warrant  issued  to  J.  C.  Pelton, 

and  paid  January  27th,  1852 500  00 

"December  8th,  1851,^^  Warrant  issued  to  J.  C.  Pel- 
ton,  and  paid  January  27th,  1852 500  00 

"  Total, $2, 177  42 

"  All  this  amount  has  been  improperly  paid  out  of  the  moneys 
paid  into  the  '  Free  Common  School  Fund,'  from  the  collec- 
tion of  the  Free  School  Taxes,  for  services  rendered  long  be- 
fore that  tax  was  ordered,  and  in  open  violation  of  the  provi- 
sions of  the  Free  School  Ordinance." 

In  addition  to  his  long  service  as  the  Pioneer  Teacher  of 
San  Francisco,  Mr.  Pelton  has  also  been  Superintendent  of  the 
State  Reform  School,  and  has  more  recently  declined  the  ofl'er 
of  temporary  Superintendent  of  the  Industrial  School  of  this 
city;  without  being  exactly  aware  of  the  institution  at  which 
he  received  his  early  training,  if  it  was  one  of  the  same  char- 
acter of  either  of  these,  his  conduct  reflects  but  little  credit 
upon  the  system  pursued. 


23 

The  following  letter  from  Mr.  Pelton  to  the  Superintendent 
of  Public  Schools,  in  relation  to  the  employment  of  Mr.  Lit- 
tlefield  by  the  Board  as  Sub-Master  of  the  Rincon  School,  in 
order  to  allow  its  Principal  more  time  to  parade  himself  on  the 
streets,  to  electioneer^  and  r/e^  up  his  papers^  will  explain  itself, 
and  needs  no  further  introduction  or  comment: 

San  Fraxcisco,  August  2d,  1864. 
To  Vie  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools,  and  Committee  on 

Rules  and  Regulations  of  the  Hon.  the  Board  of  Education  : 
Dear  Sir: 

I  deem  it  but  a  duty  which  I  owe  myself  as  well  as  my  school,  its  patrons  and 
pupils,  to  state  to  you  that  I  feel  it  to  be  simply  impossible  for  one  man  to  effi- 
ciently and  successfully  perform  the  duties  now  required  by  the  Manual  of  the 
Principal  of  a  school,  such  as  that  under  my  charge  has  now  become. 

To  faithfully  teach  a  class  of  from  forl}'-five  to  fifty  young  gentlemen  and  ladies, 
such  as  compose  our  first  grammar  clusses,  is  enough  to  tax  tbo  energies,  of  any 
one,  however  steady  his  nerves  or  sound  iiis  constitution. 

To  attend  to  the  suitable  classification  of  pupils  entering,  and  the  proper  in- 
struction of  a  grammnr  school  numbering  five  hundred  or  more  children  and 
youth ;  to  see  that  the  instruction  given  in  all  the  various  classes,  and  in  the  sev- 
eral grades  has  unity,  and  is  in  concert  and  harmony  with  the  general  system  of 
advancement,  promotion,  and  graduation  adopted  by  the  Hon.  Board  of  Education, 
and  required  bj-  them  to  bo  properly  carried  out;  to  become  familiar  with  the 
circumstances  of  pupHs  at  home  by  visiting  them  there,  and  by  such  "frequent" 
visits,  securing  the  co-operation  of  parents  and  guardians  in  behalf  of  their  chil- 
dren and  wards;  to  listen  to  the  greivances,  complaints,  and  requests  of  parents, 
teachers,  and  pupils;  to  attend  to  the  daily,  and  almost  liourly  wants  of  teachers, 
and  decide  and  act  upon  their  appeals  in  matters  of  discipline,  etc.,  constantly 
arising  in  a  school  so  large  as  that  uuder  my  care ;  to  keep  tlie  necessary  records 
and  make  the  required  reports,  and  finally,  to  do  and  attend  to  the  one  thousand 
duties  which  cannot  be  easily  stated,  but  of  which  you  can  conceive,  as  indispen- 
sable in  a  large  grammar  school  in  this  city  is  also,  without  teaching  much,  enough 
to  full.v  occupy  one  man's  time  and  thoughts, and  employ  his  unflagging  energies; 
but  to  faithful!}'  and  with  good  success  to  teach  the  Principal's  class  of  fifty  pupils, 
and  ill  addition  perform  these  other  important  and  indispensable  imperfectl}'  enu- 
merated above,  (not  one  of  which  should  be  omitted)  I  repeat  is  an  impossibility, 
in  my  opinion.  Wherefore,  I  most  respectfully  beg  through  you,  the  appointment 
in  my  school,  of  a  special  assistant  (gentleman  preferred)  or  lady. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

J.  C.  Peltox. 

Dismissing  this  subject,  we  come  next  to  the  examination  of 
teachers,  about  which  considerable  has  been  said,  both  in  the 
papers  and  by  Mr.  Pelton's  counsel.  In  his  letter  to  the  Ex- 
amining Committee,  which  will  be  found  in  the  report  of  the 
Committee  of  Investigation,  under  the  specious  plea  of  illness, 
that  person  admits  that  he  '^failed  in  algebra,  and  did  hut  little 
better  in  arithmetic^  His  disease  was  really  a  mental  and  moral, 
rather  than  physical  illnes.s,  caused  by  the  fear  of  failure  and 
consequent  rejection  at  this  examination.  His  plea  forcibly 
reminds  us  of  that  of  the  writer  of  a  letter,  who,  by  way  of 


23 

• 

excusing  its  errors  of  orthography,  remarked  that  he  "had 
such  a  cold  in  his  head,  he  couldn't  spell  at  all,  at  all !"  as  well 
as  another  of  a  Senator  from  one  of  the  rural  districts,  in  the 
early  days  of  California  legislation,  who,  when  ridiculed  by  a 
colleague  for  his  wholesale  murder  of  "  the  King's  English," 
excused  the  fault  by  saying  that  '^  owing  to  the  loss  of  some  of 
his  front  teeth,  there  were  a  great  many  words  he  could  not  pro- 
nounce correctly  !  " 

After  the  examination,  Mr.  Pelton,  feeling  very  naturally 
nervous  over  the  answer  he  had  made  to  a  question  in  physi- 
cal geography,  inquired  of  two  of  his  fellow  candidates, 
Messrs.  Marks  and  McGlynn,  how  they  answered  the  follow- 
ing interrogatory  :  "  What  angle  does  .the  axis  of  the  earth 
make  with  the  plane  of  its  orbit  ?"  Learning  from  this  con- 
versation that  he  had  given  an  erroneous  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion, with  his  accustomed  adroitness  and  adaptability  in  extri- 
cating himself  from  every  dilemma  in  which  he  is  placed,  he 
forthwith  addresses  a  note  to  Professor  Minns,  stating  that, 
upon  reflection,  he  was  satisfied  his  answer  was  incorrect,  ren- 
dering at  the  same  time  the  true  solution,  giving  his  solemn 
assurance  that  he  had,  since  the  examination,  consulted  neither 
looks  or  individuals  in  relation  to  the  matter — upon  the  strength 
of  which  he  was  credited  with  the  correct  answer,  and  his  per- 
centage accordingly  raised,  making  a  very  material  advance  in 
his  aggregate  credits.  This  is  but  another  evidence  of  the 
many  instances  of  the  persistent  prevarication  and  studied  sub- 
terfuge resorted  to  on  all  occasions  by  this  persecuted,  pure  and 
immaculate  model,  who  claims  to  be  the  pioneer  in  the  cause  of 
education  here,  and  is  held  up  by  a  common  lawyer  as  the 
head  and  front  of  the  San  Francisco  common  schools.  The 
proof  being  clear  and  conclusive  that  the  certificate  awarded 
him  under  these  circumstances  was  in  part  obtained  by  fraud, 
what  unprejudiced  mind  will  deny  the  right  and  justice  of  its 
revocation  by  the  Board? 

At  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  certain  immoral  practices 
among  the  pupils  of  the  Kincon  School,  Mr.  Pelton  signifying 
to  the  Board  his  desire  to  ferret  out  and  bring  to  punishment 
the  vendors  of  obscene  publications,  leave  of  absence  was 


24 

given  him  for  a  short  time,  during  which  he,  with  commenda- 
ble zeal  and  industry,  aided  by  an  efficient  police  detailed  to 
assist  him,  succeeded  m  capturing  and  confiscating  a  quantity 
of  those  contraband  articles,  which  had  been  so  instrumental 
in  poisoning  the  youthful  mind,  and  corrupting  a  prurient  im- 
agination, clandestinely  permitted  to  feed  on  such  unwhole- 
some mental  aliment.  The  time  required  for  this  service  was  a 
little  less  than  three  weeks,  for  which  term  Mr.  Littlefield  was 
employed  and  paid  by  the  Board,  to  supply  Mr.  Pelton's  place. 
Judge  Shepherd,  and  the  policemen  who  assisted  Mr.  Pelton  in 
this  laudable  undertaking,  being  called  for  the  defense,  testi- 
fied that  the  time  really  occupied  in  the  business  was  but  about 
eight  days — notwithstanding  which  Mr.  Pelton  took  advantage 
of  the  three  weeks  of  absence  allowed  him.  At  the  expira- 
tion of  this  leave,  finding  it  much  pleasanter  to  range  around 
the  town,  stand  on  the  streets  to  button-hole  passers-by — no 
matter  whom — to  sign  his  "pioneer"  documents,  Mr.  Pelton 
continues  Mr.  Littlefield — whom  he  wished  to  place  in  the  po- 
sition of  sub-master  of  the  Rincon  School — for  three  weeks 
longer,  with  the  assurance  that  if  the  Board  of  Education  did 
not  sanction  the  authorized  employment,  he  would  himself  pay 
the  salary  due  for  this  time.  The  Board,  not  being  bound 
either  in  law  or  equity  to  pay  this  bill,  and  unwilling  to  set  so 
dangerous  and  unwarranted  a  precedent,  refused  to  allow  Mr. 
Littlefield  for  any  longer  time  than  that  they  had  authorized. 
During  this  time  Mr.  Pelton  absented  himself  from  his  school 
on  his  own  private  business,  entirely  distinct  from  his  vocation 
as  a  teacher,  or  that  of  the  Department  of  Public  Schools. 
Upon  the  refusal  of  the  Board  to  audit  and  allow  Mr.  Little- 
field's  bill  for  this  unauthorized  time — he  having  been  notified 
by  the  Superintendent  of  Schools  that  if  he  continued  he  must 
look  to  Mr.  Pelton  for  his  pay — that  gentleman  refuses  to  give 
him  the  amount  due,  and  at  the  time  of  this  investigation  Mr. 
Littlefield  testified  that  the  bill  for  this  extra  three  weeks  still 
remained  due  and  unpaid.  As  the  municipal  election  has  since 
intervened,  it  is  possible  that  the  matter  may  have  been  ami- 
cably adjusted.  In  canvassing  this  affair,  it  was  proven  by 
the   testimony  of  numerous  witnesses — teachers,   pupils  and 


25 

visitors — that  Mr.  Pclton  was  absent  at  times  when  he 
should  have  been  attending  to  his  duties  as  a  teacher.  His 
particuhar  business  at  such  times  appears  to  have  been  getting 
signers  to  his  certificate,  that  he,  and  he  only,  was  the  pioneer 
pedagogue  of  the  city  of  San  Francisco,  State  of  California,  and 
perhaps  of  the  entire  Pacific  coast.  This  certificate,  with  nu- 
merous letters  from  our  first  men,  which  he  "  doctored  "  up  to  his 
own  standard,  he  publishes  in  pamphlet  form,  under  the  title  of 
"  Origin  of  the  Public  Schools  of  San  Francisco,"  which  was 
at  first  advertised  for  sale  at  the  bookstores,  but  which  for  a 
few  days  before  the  election  was  distributed  gratuitously  on 
the  streets,  in  hotels,  bar  rooms  and  railroad  cars,  with  this 
ticket  on  the  title  page — ^^ From  J.  C.  Pelton" — "Origin  OP 
THE  Public  Schools  of  San  Francisco." 

In  order  that  the  public  may  understand  this  matter  cor- 
rectly, we  here  present  Mr.  Littlefield's  statement  as  made  to- 
the  Investigating  Committee,  to  wit : 

San  Francisco,  May  13th,  1865. 
To  Committee  on  Pelion  Investigation : 

Gentlemen: — I  was  seut  by  Mr.  Tait,  July  13th,  1864,  to  take  charge  of  a 
class  (fourth  grade)  iu  the  basemept  of  Rincon  School,  two  and  one  half  (2i) 
days,  to  which  class  Miss  Ilobart  was  afterward  appointed. 

The  following  Monday,  July  IStli,  I  was  directed  by  the  Superintendent  to  take 
charge  of  the  first  class,  Mr.  Pelton's,  and  to  remain  in  charge  "  until  fuither  or- 
ders." I  remained  there  three  (3)  weeks,  and  at  the  expiration  of  that  time,  was 
informed  by  Mr.  Tait,  that  Mr.  Pelton  would  resume  the  duties  of  his  school,  and 
that  I  should  not  be  any  longer  wanted.  I  went  back  to  Mr.  John  Swett's  office, 
where  I  had  been  working  previous  to  my  teaching  for  Mr.  Pelton.  I  remamed 
in  Mr.  Swett's  office  one  or  two  days  and  Mr.  Pelton  came  or  sent  for  me  to  come 
and  teach  for  him. 

He  said  he  would  like  to  have  me  assist  him  the  remainder  of  the  term,  and 
thought  we  might  get  the  Board  to  favor  my  appointment  as  assistant,  and  ad- 
vised me  to  consult  with  the  Committee  on  Rules  and  Regulations,  of  which  Mr. 
Badger  was  chairman.  Mr.  Badger  informed  me  that  "  so  far  as  he  had  any  au- 
thority," he  was  perfectly  willing;  but  advised  mo  to  see  the  other  members  of 
that  committee,  mentioning  Mr.  Hitchcock  whom  I  immediately  saw  and  ob- 
tained his  consent.  Mr.  Thompson,  the  other  member  of  that  committee,  I  did 
not  see.  In  the  meantime  I  saw  Mr.  Tait,  and  he  peremptorily  refused  to  sanction 
my  remaining  there. 

The  consent  which  I  obtained  from  that  committee,  did  not  fully  satisfy  me  that 
I  should  recover  my  compensation  for  my  services,  and  I  went  after  a  few  days 
teaching  for  Mr.  Pelton  back  to  Mr.  Swett's  office. 

I  did  this  as  often  as  three  (3)  times,  but  a  day  or  half  day  would  elapse  when 
Mr.  Pelton  would  come  or  send  for  me. 

I  finally  consented  to  remain  with  him  until  the  close  of  Che  term,  by  his  prom- 
ising to  compensate  me  if  the  Board  would  not.  I  remained  in  his  school  and 
took  almost  exclusive  charge  of  his  class  (one  week  he  not  making  his  appearance 
at  all,)  until  the  close  of  the  term. 

Yours,  very  truly,  J.  D.  Littlefield. 

We  have  shown  that  the  overwhelming  testimony  brought 


to  sustain  the  charges  against  Mr.  Pelton,  fully  justifies  the 
verdict  of  the  Board  in  finding  him  guilty  of  off'enses  alike 
against  good  morals  and  manners,  any  one  of  which  should  dis- 
qualify him  for  the  posiiion  of  the  teacher  of  youth,  whose 
duty  it  is  to  look  up  to  their  principal,  not  only  as  a  model  in 
their  educational,  but  their  moral  training.  Mr.  Pelton  is  self* 
convicted  upon  his  own  admissions,  of  covertly  attacking  the 
Board  and  Department  as  an  anonymous  scribbler,  while  in 
their  employ,  and  under  the  implied  obligation  assumed  by 
every  teacher  to  co-operate  with,  and  aid  and  assist  them,  by 
every  means  in  his  power  to  further  the  interests  of  the  Public 
Schools ;  neglecting  no  occasion  to  make  a  blatant  parade  of 
his  fifteen  years  connection  with  the  schools  of  this  city,  and 
to  exhibit  his  hypocritical  zeal  in  the  cause  of  Common  School 
Education,  in  order  to  further  his  own  sinister  ends,  and  ad- 
vance his  selfish  aims — he  covertly  spares  no  pains  or  exertion 
to  undermine  his  superiors — neutralize  their  efforts,  and  dis- 
organize the  entire  system.  Under  the  specious  guise  of  a  de* 
sire  to  comply  with  the  rules  adopted  by  the  Board  for  the 
government  of  the  Public  Schools,  he  is  guilty  of  open,  glar- 
ing, and  unblushing  insubordination.  By  fraud  and  falsehood 
he  obtains  a  certificate  of  competency  to  teach,  and  procures  the 
position  of  Grammar  Master.  His  own  letter  to  the  Examin- 
ing Committee  acknowledges  his  failure  in  two  of  the  ordinary* 
at  the  same  time  most  essential,  branches  of  the  Common  School 
course.  Installed  in  his  position  as  teacher,  instead  of  endeav- 
oring to  make  up  for  these  shortcomings  and  admitted  failings, 
by  devoting  himself  assiduously  to  the  business  of  fitting  him- 
self for  the  successful  pursuit  of  the  profession  he  claims  to  have 
followed  for  nineteen  years,  he  neglects  the  duties  for  which  he 
is  specially  employed,  and  services  for  which  he  contracted  to 
render  as  an  equivalent  for  the  salary  paid  him ;  or  spends  the 
time  which  he  should  devote  to  his  pupils,  in  traversing  the 
streets,  practising  the  low  arts  of  the  wire-working  politician  ; 
laying  the  ropes  with  all  the  industry  and  subtle  craft  of  the 
trickster,  who  paddles  about  the  purlieus  of  the  "  filthy  pool 
of  politics,"  that  he  may  rise  on  the  surface  with  its  scum,  and 
taking  advantage  of  a  turn  in  the  tide,  float  into  the  safe  and 


27 

secure  haven  of  public  favor,  making  his  "  calling  and  election 
sure,"  and  landing  in  profitable  place.  With  the  craft  and 
cunning  of  an  old  political  hack,  while  supposing  himself  se- 
cure from  observation,  in  his  concealment,  he  directs  his  poi- 
soned shafts  against  the  hands  that  feed  him ;  discovered  in 
his  hiding  place,  and  his  venality  exposed,  he  forthwith  raises 
that  most  potent  of  all  electioneering  cries,  that^of  persecution. 
Considerable  of  the  testimony  went  to  show  that  he  was 
tardy  in  closing,  as  well  as  absent  at  the  opening,  thus  beget- 
ting a  habit  of  irregularity  that  could  not  but  be  fatal  to  that 
routine  so  essential  to  the  discipline  of  a  well  conducted  school- 
In  his  begging  letter  presented  to  the  Board  at  its  meeting 
of  October  12,  1864,  Mr.  Pelton,  with  a  full  knowledge  of  the 
causes  we  have  detailed,  and  which  led  to  the  revocation  of 
his  certificate  and  dismissal  as  Grammar  Master,  after  a  recital 
of  his  long  years  of  service  as  a  teacher,  endeavors  to  enlist 
public  sympathy  and  manufacture  outside  capital  by  prefer- 
ing  the  following  request : 

"  May  I  not  hope  that  those  whose  special  care  it  is  to  defend  the  rights  and 
interests,  and  regard  and  enforce  the  ordinary  courtesies  due  to  teachers  in  the 
practice  of  their  profession — may  I  not  hope  that  they  (the  members  of  your  hon- 
orable body)  will  cheerfully  and  promptly  grant  that  which  I  again  most  respect- 
fully claim,  to  wit: 

"First — The  return  or  renewal  of  my  certificate,  which  was  revoked  without 
cause,  and,  as  I  am  assured,  under  a  misapprehension  on  the  part  of  your  honora- 
ble Board. 

"  Second — A  fair  hearing  and  trial  before  an  impartial  tribunal  upon  the  spe- 
cific charges,  if  such  ever  have  been,  or  can  be  preferred,  upon  which  I  was  re- 
moved." 

We  have  referred  to  Mr.  Pelton's  doctoring  his  documents 
in  relation  to  his  claims  as  the  Pioneer  Teacher  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, for  the  purpose  of  showing  that  he  is  capable  of  taking 
advantage  of  any  circumstance,  no  matter  how  dishonorable, 
to  advance  his  personal  interests.  With  regard  to  Mr.  Pelton's 
financial  character,  we  give  the  following  extracts  from  the 
report  of  the  committee  of  the  Teachers'  Institute,  of  which 
he  was  Treasurer,  and  turned  out  a  defaulter. 

This  matter  was  brought  out  on  the  trial  by  the  defendant's 
counsel,  trying  to  show  the  high  appreciation  in  which  his 
client  had  always  been  held  by  his  professional  brethren  of 
this  city,  consequently  we  have  a  right  to  use  it  here  : 


Jb  the  San  Francisco  Normal  School : 

Fellow  Members: — We,  your  committee  appointed  to  investiprate  the  nature 
of  the  diaries  preferred  against  Mr.  J.  C.  Pelton  by  Mr.  J.  C.  Morrill,  \)oth  mem- 
bers of  your  body,  would  respectfully  represent  that  we  have  instituted  a  diligent 
and  thorough  inquiry  mto  the  causes  which  induced  this  controversy;  have  ex- 
amined many  witnesses  in  regard  to  the  matters  in  dispute,  and  carefully  com- 
pared their  testimony  in  relation  to  the  following  charges : 

Of  the  above  general  and  specific  charges,  we  find  the  first,  second,  third,  and 
Beventh  sustained,  and  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  not  sustained. 

Your  committee  are  of  opinion  that  no  further  ground  exists  for  the  fifth  charge, 
regarding  the  sum  of  SI  24,  alleged  to  have  been  retained  or  appropriated  by  Mr. 
Pelton,  he  having  declared  himself  to  the  committee  liable  to  your  association  for 
the  said  amount. 

In  conclusion,  your  committee,  considering  the  relations  we  sustain  to  the  par- 
ties involved  herein,  would  forbear  the  expression  of  any  written  opinion  either 
as  to  the  facts  elicited  during  our  investigation,  or  the  conclusions  arrived  at. 
"We  beg,  therefore,  to  be  discharged  from  further  duty. 

(Signed)  GEORGE  TAIT, 

E.  H.  HOLMES, 
T.  C.  LEONARD. 

The  following  letter  from  Mr.  Cook,  former  Janitor  of  the 
Kincon  School,  fully  explains  itself  It  was  thought  probable 
by  some  of  the  members  of  the  Board,  that  Mr.  Cook  had 
been  tampered  with  by  some  one  previous  to  the  examination 
of  his  charges  against  Pelton,  but  of  this  no  proof  was  obtained. 

San  Francisco,  July  12th,  1864. 
Board  of  Education : 

Gentlemek  : — Allow  me  to  leave  before  you  the  circumstances  regarding  Mr.  Pel- 
ton  urging  the  Board  to  grant  him  the  privilege  of  getting  another  Janitor,  and  black- 
mailing me,  as  being  not  capable  of  taking  care  of  his  school.  I  have  acted  la 
the  capacity  of  Janitor  in  Rincon  School  for  the  last  twelve  months,  and  I  have 
discharged  the  duties  incumbent  on  me  with  sobriety  and  attention.  I  did  not 
know  anything  of  Mr.  Pelton's  intention  of  having  me  removed  till  yesterday 
morning.  He  sent  a  Frenchman,  who  could  not  speak  a  word  of  English,  aud 
demanded  the  keys  of  the  school.  I  told  him  I  considered  the  Board  alone  had 
that  privilege,  and  when  they  would  require  me  to  resign.  I  would  cheerfully  do 
it;  but  imtil  then,  I  would  go  on  with  my  usual  duties.  Gentlemen,  I  hope  and 
trust  you  have  formed  your  own  opinion  of  Mr.  Pelton's  mania  of  changing  Jan- 
itors. He  has,  or  at  least  tried  to  have,  some  of  the  most  efficient  and  capable 
men  in  the  Department  discharged,  and  men  of  his  own  choice  taken  in  their 
places.  I  refer  to  Mr.  Stratton's  Janitor;  also,  "William,  of  Fourth  and  Cleary 
Street  School,  men  who,  since  they  left  him,  have  got  on  well,  and  have  given 
the  utmost  satisfaction  to  their  Principals.  The  great  evil  is  with  Mr.  Pelton, 
he  wishes  to  take  all  power  in  his  own  hands ;  he  wishes  to  hire  his  own  men, 
and  pay  them  what  he  pleases,  and  have  him  work  round  his  own  private  house 
between  school  hours,  run  all  his  errands,  and  do  all  his  chores.  Such  a  man 
would  stand  high  in  his  estimation;  but  I  always  considered  such  jobbing  incon- 
flistent  with  my  duties  round  the  school  Consequently,  this  is  the  cause  of  hav- 
ing me  removed.  As  also  the  next  thing  I  find,  he  comes  down  to  the  office  to 
try  to  prevent  a  poor  man  from  earning  an  honest  living,  by  black-mailing  him, 
getting  up  petitions,  and  to  have  him  removed.  I  am  almost  confident  there  is 
not  one  gentleman,  composing  the  Board  of  Education,  but  knows,  or  at  least 
has  heard,  of  his  unprincipled,  ungentlemanly  conduct  toward  his  Janitors.  For 
my  part,  I  am  willing  to  submit  to  a  fair  and  impartial  examination  into  the  mat- 
ter. I  have  lived  for  the  last  seven  years  in  this  city,  with  respectable  citizens 
and  tax  payers,  from  all  of  whom  I  have,  and  can  produce,  the  highest  recom. 


20 

mcndations.     Knowing:  that  in  yotir  hands,  aa  a  body  of  gentlemen,  the  power  of 
removing  ino  lies,  I  will  contimie  my  daily  vocation  till  you  remove  mo. 

I  am  yours,  obediently,  H.  A.  CoOK, 

Janitor  of  Rincon  School. 

In  a  prior  communication  the  writer  adds  :  "If  I  am  allowed 
the  opportunity  before  a  fair  and  impartial  tribunal,  and  fail  to 
exonerate  myself  from  every  charge  preferred  by  your  com- 
mittee, I  will  concede  the  justice  of  my  removal  and  remain 
silent.  And  I  wish  to  be  understood  that  I  am  willing  that 
my  professional  conduct  should  be  reviewed  for  any  period 
the  Board  of  Education  may  choose," 

In  answer  to  this  petition,  Mr.  Pelton's  certificate,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  charity,  not  of  equity  or  justice,  was  returned  to  him, 
and  a  fair  and  impartial  trial  granted  him,  the  Board  setting  a 
precedent  unusual  in  such  cases,  for  as  well  might  any  public 
servant,  or  even  private  agent  or  employee,  removed  for  good 
and  sufficient  cause,  demand  a  public  investigation  of  his  con- 
duct. Mr.  Pelton  was  given  his  fair  trial  before  an  impartial 
tribunal.  He  was  allowed  able  counsel,  a  courtesy  afforded 
him  although  he  had  no  legal  right  to  it ;  both  counsel  and 
client  were  permitted  the  largest  liberty  in  the  conduct  of  the 
case,  and  the  broadest  latitude  in  the  examination  of  witnesses. 
The  desire  of  counsel  was  to  give  color  and  make  capital 
through  the  reports  of  the  smart  sayings,  artful  dodges  and 
sharp  practices  of  a  pliant  attorney,  equally  at  home  in  the  de- 
fense of  a  persecuted  Pelton  or  a  Confederate  inrate^  through  the 
columns  of  the  newspapers  and  the  unflagging  zeal  of  inter- 
ested reporters.  So  far  from  adhering  to  the  willingness  to 
have  his  professional  conduct  overhauled  "for  any  period  the 
Board  of  Education  might  choose,"  the  counsel  was  particular 
to  restrict  the  investigation  to  a  period  of  time  of  limited  ex- 
tent, knowing  as  he  did  that  the  character  of  his  client  during 
the  period  named  would  not  bear  ventilation  and  stand  the 
test  of  the  scrutiny  demanded. 

A  large  number  of  witnesses  were  examined  for_the  defense, 
most  of  whom  never  had  visited  the  Eincon  School ;  but  many 
of  them  testified  to  Mr.  Pelton's  superior  qualifications  as  a 
public  instructor.  A  majority  of  these  witnesses  appeared  to 
have  been  subpoenaed  to  prove  that  they  had  never  heard  any- 


ae 

thing  against  Mr.  Pelton  as  a  teacher,  a  species  of  logic  and  par- 
ity of  reasoning  marvellously  akin  to  the  decision  of  the 
Dutch  Justice  in  passing  upon  a  petty  larceny  case.  "  Dere 
est  von  vitness  who  schwears  he  seen  de  brizner  schdeal  de 
poots !  De  brizner's  gounsel  prings  tree  widuesses  who  schware 
dey  did' nt  see  him  steal  de  poots.  De  weight  of  de  teschde- 
mony  being  in  his  favor,  he  ish  discharched  I" 

While  Mr.  Pelton's  counsel  complained  of  what  he  was 
pleased  to  term  the  unreasonable  delays  of  the  committee,  he 
himself  occupied  the  most  of  the  time  devoted  to  this  investi- 
gation in  frivolous  debates  and  technical  objections,  and  while 
charging  the  committee  with  delaying  matters  so  as  to  injure 
Pelton's  chances  for  success  as  candidate  for  School  Superin- 
tendent, on  more  than  one  occasion  moved  to  adjourn  the  case 
until  after  the  election.  When  the  committee  decided  upon 
the  summing  up  of  the  case  with  closed  doors,  this  did  not  suit 
the  desire  of  client  and  counsel  for  electioneering  capital  and 
ad  captandum  argument ;  accordingly  Piatt's  Hall  was  hired 
for  the  night  before  the  election,  flaming  placards  were  posted 
about  the  town  inviting  the  public  without  money  and  with- 
out price.  Pixley  sung  the  wrongs  of  injured  innocence  to  the 
tune  of  a  five  hundred  dollar  fee,  which  we  hope  he  has  got, 
and  we  trust  that  the  printers  who  published  his  electioneering 
pamphlet  have  also  been  remunerated;  that  Littlefield's  just 
claim  will  not  be  forgotten,  and  that  the  papers  fighting  the 
battles  of  this  suffering  martyr,  and  supporting  his  slender 
claims  upon  the  public  sympathy,  may  also  reap  the  reward 
their  zeal  deserves.  The  solemn  farce  is  ended.  Mr.  Pelton 
has  had  his  investigation.  Every  material  charge  against  him 
has  been  proven  beyond  doubt  or  cavil ;  he  has  been  found 
guilty  beyond  dispute,  doubt,  or  peradventure,  on  a  fair  trial, 
by  a  jury  of  his  peers,  after  every  facility  has  been  afforded 
him  to  disprove  the  charges  and  exonerate  himself.  The  finding 
of  the  jury  is  adopted  by  the  Board,  and  ordered  to  be  spread 
upon  the  minutes,  and  made  part  and  parcel  of  the  records  of  the 
Department  of  the  Public  Schools.  The  suggestion  of  a  lead- 
ing newspaper — that  because  the  party  demanding  the  investi- 
gation had,  under  the  specious  guise  of  a  persecuted  martyr, 


31 

and  by  the  clap-trap  of  cunning  counsel,  been  elected  Super- 
intendent of  the  Public  Schools  of  this  city,  the  Board  of  Ed- 
ucation should  allow  the  matter  to  rest,  stultify  itself,  nullify 
all  its  previous  action  in  the  premises,  virtually  acknowledge 
the  falsity  of  the  charges  made  against  Mr.  Pelton — was  not 
for  a  moment  to  be  entertained,  and,  accordingly,  we  have 
given  to  the  world  the  facts  in  this  case  as  called  out  upon  the 
investigation  demanded  by  the  party  implicated,  with  such 
comments  as  the  testimony  warranted.  We  have  called  things 
by  their  right  names,  and  have  not  minced  matters  in  the  least. 
Having  acted  conscientiously  in  the  premises  throughout,  and 
exercised  the  utmost  lenity  and  forbearance  toward  the  princi- 
pal in  this  investigation,  until  his  final  action,  and  one-sided, 
unwarranted,  and  unfair  appeals  to  public  prejudice,  placed 
him  without  the  pale  of  sympathy,  removing  any  implied  seal 
of  secrecy  from  the  action  of  the  Board  in  the  premises — it 
was  only  when  forbearance  ceased  to  be  a  virtue,  that  we 
were  induced  to  go  to  the  same  jury,  and  submit  this  statement 
to  an  impartial  public,  to  be  canvassed  after  the  bewildering 
excitement  of  a  heated  municipal  election  shall  have  passed 
away,  and  the  cunningly  devised  expedients  and  artfully 
worded  appeals  to  public  prejudice,  misleading  the  minds  of 
the  many,  shall  have  recoiled  upon  their  authors,  showing 
their  utter  insignificance  and  unworthiness  of  common  cre- 
dence or  public  trust. 

To  show  the  feelings  of  the  members  of  the  Board  toward 
Mr.  Pelton  in  the  matter,  and  their  entire  willingness  to  have 
justice  done  him,  we  here  present  a  copy  of  the  preamble  and 
resolution  presented  by  Mr.  Lynch,  and  adopted  by  the  Board 
at  a  meeting  held  March  21st,  1865,  under  which  the  investi- 
tion  of  the  charges  against  him  took  place,  to  wit: 

"  Whereas,  Since  the  dismissal  of  J.  C.  Pelton  in  September 
last,  from  the  position  held  by  him  as  Principal  of  the  Rincon 
Grammar  School,  he  has  addressed  communications  to  this 
Board,  asking  that  his  certificate  be  returned  to  him  and  that 
he  be  restored  to  his  former  charge,  at  the  same  time  asserting 
that  no  reason  existed  for  his  removal  therefrom,  and  express- 
ing not  only  a  desire  to  hear  any  charges  that  might  be  brought 
against^him,  but  a  willingness  to  meet  and  refute  them ;  and 


83 

since  charges  were  furnished  by  a  Committee  of  this  Board, 
and  are  now  a  matter  of  record  on  its  minutes,  (pages  651  and 
600,  Liber  4),  the  truth  of  which  he  denies,  and  which  charges 
he  has  had  as  yet  no  opportunity,  to  disprove,  and 

"Whereas,  Said  charges  were  not  produced  by  the  voluntary 
act  of  this  Board  or  its  members,  but  on  the  contrary  were 
furnished  on  his  particular  request  that  specific  charges  should 
be  made  ;  and  as  it  is  not  now  and  never  has  been  our  wish  or 
intention  to  treat  Mr.  Pelton  or  any  other  person  in  our  em- 
ploy unjustly,  as  he  would  have  the  public  believe;  and  having 
in  view  now  as  heretofore  only  the  interest,  prosperity  and 
harmon}^  of  the  School  Department,  and  in  order  that  any  in- 
justice done  him,  either  from  the  loss  of  his  position  or  the  ex- 
istence of  said  charges,  (if  groundless),  may  be  repaired,  and 
any  error  of  the  Board  be  corrected,  and  the  facts  in  the  case 
elicited  ;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  said  charges,  and  such  others  as  may  be  pre- 
ferred, as  well  as  all  matters  affecting  the  fitness  of  the  said 
Pelton,  to  hold  a  certificate  of  qualification  as  a  Grammar 
Master,  or  position  as  a  teacher  in  the  schools  under  our  charge, 
be  taken  up  and  investigated  as  soon  as  the  members  now  ab- 
sent shall  have  returned."* 

With  this  preliminary  introduction,  we  respectfully  submit 
the  report  of  the  Committee  of  Investigation,  which  was 
adopted  by  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  City  and  County  of 
San  Francisco. 

It  might  be  well  to  digress  here  to  take  a  cursory  glance  at 
the  outrageous  and  unfounded  charges  made  against  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Board  by  Mr.  Pelton's  particular  friend  and  pliant 
tool,  S.  B.  Thompson,  Director  from  the  Ninth  District,  as 
they  had  a  direct  bearing  on,  and  more  intimate  connection 
with,  this  case  than  the  public  were  aware. 

The  first  that  was  heard  from  Mr.  Thompson  on  this  subject, 
and  about  which  he  knew  nothing  on  the  trial,  was  at  the 
meeting  of  the  Board  held  April  4:th,  1865,  just  two  iveelcs  after 
the  Board  had  adopted  the  resolution  to  give  his  principal  a 
trial.  These  charges  were  imaginary,  baseless,  and  as  far  as 
investigated,  proven  false,  and  were  evidently  concocted  by 
himself  and  master  in  the  office  of  their  attorneys,  as  an  offset 

*  Messrs.  Pope,  Gray,   and  Doble  were  absent  from  the  city  at  this  time, 
but  were  expected  to  return  soon. 


88 

to  the  charges  then  existing  before  the  Board  against  the  lat- 
ter. At  tlie  time  he  signed  them,  and  presented  them  to  the 
Board,  he  knew  they  were  untrue,  and  also  knew  the  object 
to  be  attained  by  making  them  public;  yet  being  a  man  lack- 
ing in  moral  principle,  he  lent  himself  to  this  designing  and 
unscrupulous  hypocrite  to  blast  the  good  name  and  reputation 
of  his  fellow-members.  Thompson  had  been  persistent  in  his 
demands  for  an  investigation  of  the  charges  against  his  ill- 
used  friend,  Pel  ton,  up  to  March  21st,  and  then,  when  he  saw 
a  resolution  presented,  granting  what  they  both  had  been  so 
long  asking  for,  he,  with  the  usual  consistency  of  this  class  of 
men,  voted  against  its  adoption. 

The  object  of  these  counter  charges  soon  became  apparent. 
We  can  assert  here,  without  fear  of  truthful  contradiction,  that 
they  were  preferred  for  the  sole  purpose  of  intimidating  the 
members  of  the  Board  from  proceeding  with  the  investigation 
of  the  charges  against  John  C.  Pelton.  It  was  intimated  on  a 
number  of  occasions  to  the  Board,  by  Thompson's  counsel, 
that  if  the  Board  would  withdraw  the  charges  that  existed  as  a 
matter  of  record  on  the  books  of  the  department  against  Pel- 
ton — or,  in  other  words,  whitewash  him — the  Thompson 
charges  against  the  members  of  the  Board  would  be  with- 
drawn. 

Indeed,  so  far  did  they  proceed  in  their  efforts  to  compound 
this  villainy  with  the  members  of  the  Board,  and  to  frighten 
them  into  suppressing  the  investigation  they  had  long  been 
demanding,  that  a  meeting  was  called  at  Mr.  Badger's  store 
(who  favored  the  proposition),  at  which  Mr.  Thompson,  with 
his  counsel,  G.  Frank  Smith,  and  a  number  of  members  of 
the  Board  were  present ;  and  the  above  proposition  was  then 
and  there  openly  submitted  and  discussed  between  them.  A 
few  of  the  members,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  the  whole  disgust- 
ing subject  and  its  prime  cause,  at  first  thought  rather  favora- 
bly of  the  proposition,  but  on  reflection,  the  majority  of  them 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  they  could  not  lend  themselves  to 
any  such  unjust  and  dishonorable  proceeding.  Hence,  the  in- 
vestigation of  the  charges  against  Pelton  took  place,  with  the 
result  given  in  the  report  of  the  committee,  and  the  investiga- 


84 

tion  of  Thompson's  charges  against  members  was  proceeded 
with  until  he  abandoned  their  prosecution,  and  with  the  result 
shown  by  the  report  of  the  committee  having  'that  matter  in 
hand,  which  was  presented  to  the  Board  June  13th,  1865, 
adopted,  and  ordered  to  be  spread  upon  the  minutes,  and  will 
be  found  on  page  41,  and  following  of  this  book. 

There  is  one  of  Thompson's  charges  that  we  deem  worth 
while  to  notice  here,  since  the  counsel  for  the  persecuted  pio- 
neer teacher,  (?)  in  his  harangue  at  Piatt's  Hall,  laid  great  stress 
on  it,  and  manufactured  a  vast  amount  of  sympathy  and  capi- 
tal from  it  for  his  irreproachable  client.     Here  it  is: 

"  Lynch,  Tait  and  Gray,  fearing  Pelton's  claims  to  the  Su- 
perintendency,  wickedly  turned  him  out  of  the  Kincon  School 
on  pretended  charges,  denied  him  a  hearing,  and  though  the 
oldest  and  one  of  the  best  teachers  in  the  department,  sought 
to  blacken  his  reputation  and  consign  his  family  to  want," 

Among  the  numerous  witnesses  for  the  defense,  but  one  was 
produced  who  said  anything  in  support  of  this  charge,  and  he, 
putting  his  own  construction  on  some  remarks  made  to  him 
by  Mr.  Tait,  appeared  to  think  that  there  was  at  least  some 
foundation  for  it. 

He  testified  that  he  called  on  Mr.  Tait  and  asked  him  if 
there  was  anything  that  should  prevent  a  man  from  voting  for 
Pelton  to  take  charge  of  the  Industrial  School  during  the  ab- 
sence in  the  East  of  Mr,  Lynde ;  that  he  had  seen  a  great  deal 
in  the  newspapers  lately  about  Pelton  and  his  difficulties  with 
the  Board,  and  he  would  like  to  knovy"  what  it  meant?  To 
this  he  swears  Mr.  Tait  replied  in  these  exact  words,  which  he 
took  down  as  soon  as  he  reached  his  office  : 

"  No,  there  is  not ;  I  know  of  nothing ;  you  know  that  as 
election  approaches,  people  consider  anything  foir  which  they 
may  do  to  effect  their  object;  or,  in  other  words,  all  is  fair  in 
politics  ;  you  know  at  such  times  certain  tilings  are  done  which 
would  not  be  under  other  circumstances ;  I  consider  him  a 
suitable  person  for  the  position,  and  know  of  no  reason  why 
a  member  of  your  Board  should  not  support  him." 

Now,  admitting  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  these  are  the 
words  of  Mr.  Tait,  the  construction  put  upon  them,  and  the 
inference  drawn  therefrom  by  the  witness,  is  illogical  and  un- 
reasonable,   and  cannot  stand  the  test  of  examination  for  a 


35 

moment,  even  if  we  had  not  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Tait  him- 
self on  the  subject,  which  will  be  alluded  to  hereafter.  We 
would  say  nothing  here  to  reflect  in  the  slightest  on  the  vera- 
city or  fair  intentions  of  the  witness,  who  appeared  to  be  hon- 
est in  his  views  and  straightforward  in  his  testimony ;  yet  it  is 
hard  to  assign  a  plausible  reason  why  he  should  so  interest 
himself  to  learn  the  private  opinions  of  members  of  the  Board 
touching  J.  C.  Pelton's  fitness  and  qualifications  for  the  posi- 
tion of  temporary  Superintendent  of  the  Industrial  School, 
for  it  appears  that  he  also  called  upon  Messrs.  Gray,  Lynch 
and  Pope  on  that  subject.  Why  this  anxiety  on  his  part  to 
sound  the  members  of  the  Board  on  this  question,  since  he 
testified  to  having  been  acquainted  with  Pelton  since  the  early 
part  of  1850,  and  that  he  had  never  heard  anything  to  his 
disadvantage  or  discredit.  If  he  had  heard  nothing  to  his  dis- 
credit, why  did  he  deem  it  necessary  to  call  on  various  mem- 
bers of  the  Board  to  see  if  he  would  be  justified  in  voting  for 
him?  • 

It  is  probable  he  had  read  in  the  newspapers,  and  likely 
been  told  by  Pelton  himself,  that  for  personal  reasons  a  com- 
bination had  been  made  against  him  by  Tait,  Lynch,  Gray 
and  others,  who  wished  to  get  rid  of  him  as  a  candidat2  for 
the  office  of  Superintendent,  and  probably  assured  him  that 
there  was  no  truth  in  the  charges  given  as  the  cause  of  his 
dismissal,  and  from  his  subsequent  conduct,  it  is  almost  certain 
that  he  believed  the  statement,  and  at  once  enlisted  to  advance 
the  cause  of  the  supposed  victim  of  this  conspiracy. 

This  being  the  case,  he  expected  that  by  calling  on  these 
persons,  and  manifesting  considerable  anxiety  to  do  Pelton  a 
favor,  providing  he  had  their  private  opinions  as  to  whether 
he  should  or  should  not  vote  for  him,  he  would  also  learn  their 
private  reasons  for  having  dismissed  him,  for  he  evidently  cred- 
ited the  storj^,  and  was  apparently  on  the  qui  vive  for  a  full 
confession  from  each  of  them,  and  confirmation  of  his  suspi- 
cions that  he  had  been  dismissed,  in  order  to  help  the  chances 
of  one  or  the  other  of  them  to  the  office,  that  Pelton,  as  now 
shown,  was  determined  to  secure  for  himself,  by  fair  means  or 
foul,  and  for  which  neither  one  of  the  alleged  conspirators  was 
a  candidate. 


36 

His  mind  tilled  with  this  belief,  no  doubt  he  was  disappoint- 
ed when,  on  consulting  with  Pope,  Gray  and  Lynch,  he  could 
learn  nothing  to  confirm  his  too  willing,  but  unfounded,  suspi- 
cions.  He  then  calls  on  Tait,  and  makes  the  same  inquiry. 
Mr.  Tait  replied  as  undoubtedly  had  Lynch,  Pope  and  Gray, 
jhat  Pelton  would  answer  very  well  for  that  school  for  a  few 
months,  and  that  he  would  like  to  see  him  get  the  appoint- 
ment, and,  continuing  the  conversation,  replied  to  his  allusion 
to  the  newspaper  articles,  alluding  to  Pelton  and  the  Board, 
and  that  they  were  written  for  political  purposes. 

For  the  sake  of  argument,  we  will  admit  that  Mr.  Tait  did 
say  that  these  articles  were  Avritten  for  political  purposes ;  but 
could  any  unbiased  or  reflecting  mind  construe  that  admission 
into  meaning  that  they  were  written  by,  or  for,  the  Board,  or 
intended  to  benefit  the  members  of  the  Board  in  any  way,  to 
the  injury  of  J.  C.  Pelton?  Most  assuredly  not ;  for  not  an 
article  had  appeared  in  the  papers  for  months  favorable  to  the 
Board,  or  even  calculated  to  justify  their  acts  before  the  pub- 
lic, while  week  after  week,  for  nronths  previous,  numerous  ar- 
ticles appeared,  emanating  from  Pelton  or  those  in  his  interest, 
alleging  that  he  had  been  dismissed  without  the  shadow  of  a 
cause,  and  that  the  members  of  the  Board  were  only  actuated 
by  personal  spite  and  jealousy  toward  him.  The  witness  pro- 
bably, without  intending  to  do  injustice  to  any  one,  but  with 
his  mind  ready  to  hear  a  disclosure,  seized  on  the  casual  re- 
marks of  Mr.  Tait,  and  examining  them  from  his  own  inter- 
ested stand-point,  turned  them  to  the  benefit  of  his  friend,  and 
to  the  injury  of  the  Board -and  its  members.  The  examina- 
tion of  this  point  need  be  carried  but  little  further  to  show 
how  absurd  the  idea  of  dismissing  a  teacher  for  any  such  rea- 
son would  be.  It  is  self-evident  that  a  person  out  of  employ- 
ment is  much  better  prepared  to  look  after  opportunities  to  get 
an  office,  and  can  and  will  make  greater  efforts  to  secure  it, 
than  one  constantly  employed  at  a  good  round  salary — for 
being  so  employed,  the  duties  of  his  position  would  necessa- 
rily occupy  considerable  of  the  time  that,  under  other  circum- 
stances, Avould  be  given  to  electioneering.  Probably  it  would 
make  but  little   difference  with  Pelton  whether  he  was  em- 


37 

ployed  or  not,  as  it  was  shown  by  the  evidence  introduced  on 
the  trial,  that  he  generally  absented  himself  from  his  school- 
room when  it  suited  his  own  convenience  or  pleasure. 

And  again  ;  was  there  any  objection  to  Pelton  being  a  can- 
didate for  that  office?  or  have  grammar  masters,  at  any  time 
within  the  last  ten  years,  been  removed,  or  threatened  with 
removal,  because  they  aspired  to  office  ?  Certainly  not.  Such 
a  thing  was  never  attempted,  and  probably  never  even  thought 
of,  until  this  would-be  martyr  and  stranger  to  honesty  and 
fair  dealing  started  the  story  to  accomplish  his  ov/n  ambitious 
ends. 

As  we  said  before,  the  defendant's  counsel  laid  great  stress 
on  the  evidence  of  this  witness,  in  his  speech  at  Piatt's  Hall, 
and  on  the  strength  of  it  charged  the  Board  with  having 
turned  Pelton  out  of  school  for  a  political  trick,  saying  "  that 
fearing  his  popularity  and  claims  to  the  office  of  Superinten- 
dent, they  attempted  to  destroy  him."  Let  us  here  ask  why 
should  they  fear  him  more  than  any  other  teacher  in  the  de- 
partment ;  and  if,  when  a  teacher  aspired  to  office,  it  was  a 
cause  for  dismissal,  why  were  not  other  teachers  in  the  de- 
partment, who  did  aspire  to  that  office,  dismissed  ?  Did  they 
fear  him  because  he  was  the  poorest  scholar  among  the  entire 
corps  of  grammar  masters  of  the  department,  and  received  his 
certificate  of  qualification  on  the  second  examination — having 
failed  on  the  first — and  then,  on  a  margin  of  only  two  and 
one-half  per  cent,  above  the  standard  fixed  to  get  one,  and 
as  now  proven,  a  part  of  that  credit  was  obtained  by  deception 
and  falsehood? 

Would  his  reputation  for  truthfulness  and  honesty  make 
him  so  far  superior  to  any,  or  all  other,  male  teachers  in  the 
department,  that  he  would  be  feared  by  any  one  ?  Or  could 
his  continual  violations  of  the  rules  of  the  Board,  for  months 
previous  to  his  dismissal,  tend  to  make  him  an  uncommonly 
dangerous  opponent  ?  Did  his  attempt  to  drag  in  the  gram- 
mar masters,  to  aid  him  in  violating  the  rules  of  the  Board  in 
the  matter  of  his  picnic  excursion,  add  so  much  to  his  popu- 
larity with  the  teachers,  that  he  was  their  favorite?  And  if 
that  did  not,  were  they  so  delighted  with  the  honor  he  con- 

306548 


38 

ferred  on  them  by  using  their  names,  and  that  of  their  schools, 
•without  their  authority,  to  get  up  his  excursion,  as  to  give  him 
their  unqualified  support  ? 

His  attempt  to  make  it  appear  that  it  was  possible,  if  not 
quite  probable,  that  other  grammar  schools,  and  especially  that 
of  Mr.  Myrick,  had  the  same  questions  from  the  Cincinnati  Re- 
port, previous  to  the  examination  of  May,  1864,  that  were 
then  used  to  examine  the  schools,  cannot  yet  be  forgotten,  nor 
the  emphatic  denial  given  the  charge  by  Mr.  Myrick  and 
others  before  the  Board.  Lid  this  conduct  tend  to  make  him 
a  dangerous  candidate  ?  His  letter  to  Mr.  Gray  denying  that 
his  pupils  had  any  unfair  advantage  over  the  pupils  of  other 
schools  at  the  examination  is  yet  fresh  in  mind,  as  well  as  the 
result  of  the  investigation  that  followed.  Did  his  action  in 
this  matter  make  him  more  to  be  feared  as  a  candidate  than  a 
dozen  of  other  teachers  that  could  be  mentioned  ? 

Or  could  his  statement,  published  in  the  "  Morning  Call," 
under  the  head  of  "  The  Personnel  of  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion," in  which  he  stated  "  that  about  three  fourths  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Board  were  without  children  or  families,"  when, 
in  fact  as  he  then  well  knew,  there  were  only  two  of  the  mem- 
bers unmarried  and  without  families,  be  deemed  as  additional 
proof  of  his  popularity  and  qualification  for  office? 

If  these  were  good  and  valid  reasons  for  making  J.  C.  Pelton 
pre-eminent  among  his  fellow  teachers  as  a  candidate  for  tho 
office  of  Superintendent  of  Schools,  and  a  more  dangerous 
competitor  for  that  office  than  any  one  of  them,  then,  indeed, 
•was  be  fully  entitled  to  the  honor  of  being  so  considered. 

"\Ve  will  now  return  to  the  testimony  of  Mr,  Tait,  given  in 
rebuttal.  He  was  not  present  when  the  last  mentioned  witness 
gave  his  testimony,  but  on  seeing  it  published  in  the  morning 
papers,  asserted  that  he  had  not  made  use  of  the  language  at- 
tributed to  him.  Therefore,  when  the  defense  got  through 
with  their  witnesses,  Mr.  Tait  was  recalled,  and  testified  as  to 
what  he  had  said  on  that  occasion,  and  explained  what  he 
meant  by  saying  "  that  as  election  approaches  people  consider 
anything  fair  which  they  may  do  to  effect  their  object"  (in  case 
he  used  that  expression),  was  that  the  cry  of  persecution, 
raised  by  Pelton  and  his  friends  through  the  columns  of  the 


39 

newspapers  against  the  Board,  was  a  political  dodge  on  their 
part  to  help  Pelton ;  and,  further,  that  he  had  not  said  or  inti- 
mated to  any  one  that  he  had  been  removed  without  sufficient 
cause,  or  for  the  purpose  of  benefitting  the  prospects  of  any 
person  for  office,  and  that  no  one  was  justified  in  putting  that 
construction  on  his  language.  Now,  as  Mr.  Tait  swears  posi- 
tively as  to  what  he  did  mean,  and  the  former  witness  only 
puts  his  own  construction  on  what  he  thinks  was  said,  and 
then  siqyposes  that  he  knew  what  was  meant,  it  can  take  but 
little  reflection  on  the  part  of  any  one  to  determine  which  of 
the  statements  is  to  be  taken  as  correct. 

Nor  do  we  stand  on  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Tait  alone  on  this 
point,  for  in  support  of  him  we  have  the  testimony,  direct  and 
positive,  of  Messrs.  Gray,  Widber,  and  Ayer,  to  the  effect  that 
Pelton  was  dismissed  for  repeated  violations  of  the  rules  of  the 
Board,  for  writing  and  publishing  newspaper  articles  that  were 
untrue  and  reflecting  on  the  members  of  the  Board,  and  for  a  gen- 
eral want  of  co-operation  with  them  in  carrying  out  the  estab- 
lished rules  and  regulations  of  the  Department,  and  also  a  want 
of  confidence  in  him  as  a  man  ;  and,  further,  that  the  following 
charges  against  him  were  presented  at  a  meeting  of  a  commit- 
tee of  the  Board,  were  discussed,  and  conceded  by  the  mem- 
bers present — viz :  Messrs.  Mastick,  Pope,  Ayer,  Hitchcock, 
Gray,  Shepard,  Widber,  Lynch,  and  Doble — from  facts  within 
their  own  knowledge  to  be  true  : 

"charges  against  j.  c.  pelton. 

"  Systematic  and  studied  attempt  on  his  part  to  prevent  the 
carrying  out  the  rules  of  the  Board  on  three  occasions :  1st, 
Excursion  to  Eedwood  City;  2d,  Examination  of  Eincon 
School ;  3d,  Refusal  to  sign  the  teacher's  contract  after  having 
been  asked  so  to  do  by  a  Director. 

"Employment  of  Mr.  Littlefield  without  authority. 

"Discharge  of  pupils  without  notifying  the  Superintendent 
as  required  by  the  rules. 

"Teaching  deceit  by  example. 

"  Absence  from  his  class  without  permission. 

"  A  general  desire  to  attend  to  everything  except  such  mat- 
ters as  wholly  pertain  to  the  duties  of  his  position. 

"Writing  and  publishing  newspaper  articles  tending  to 
bring  the  Board  into  ridicule  and  destroy  their  influence." 


10 

These  are  the  charges  made  at  that  time,  and  that  they  were 
true  and  could  have  been  proven — and  in  fact  some  of  them 
had  been  proven  before  the.  Board — was  admitted  by  all ;  yet 
with  this  array  of  transgressions,  and  the  proof  to  sustain  them 
at  the  command  of  his  accusers,  that  would  damn  any  man 
(except  Pelton)  and  consign  him  to  the  depths  of  oblivion, 
they  determined  in  committee,  through  a  regard  for  his  family, 
and  in  order  to  avoid  doing  anything  that  might  work  to  his 
injury  outside  of  the  department,  that  they  should  not  be  made 
public.  This  is  testified  to  by  the  same  witnesses,  and  is  fully 
corroborated  by  the  minutes  of  the  Board,  showing  that  no 
charges  were  made  public,  or  entered  of  record,  until  after  a 
demand  was  made  for  them  by  the  accused  himself  in  writing, 
backed  up  by  frantic  appeals  through  the  columns  of  the 
press.  And  even  after  they  were  furnished,  the  Board  forsome 
time  refused  an  investigation,  and  because  they  knew  the  truth 
of  them,  and  that  he  alone  would  be  the  suflferer. 

Now  with  all  these  facts  before  us,  it  is  unaccountable  how 
any  one  could  be  found  with  the  hardihood  to  come  forward 
and  assert,  on  the  mere  distorted  and  absurd  view  of  Mr. 
Tait's  remarks,  that  the  Board  dismissed  Pelton  without  suffi- 
cient cause,  and  hope  to  convince  any  sane  man  that  the  infer- 
ence was  either  reasonable,  correct,  or  even  probable. 

This  charge  however,  served  well  the  purpose  for  which  it 
was  originated,  and  enabled  defendant's  counsel  in  his  speech, 
to  appeal  to  the  sympathies  of  the  community,  and  not  their 
sense  of  justice,  in  behalf  of  his  client,  who  he  alleged  was  the 
innocent  victim  of  persecution  and  conspiracy  at  the  hands  of 
Tait,  Gray  and  Lynch,  who  "feared  his  popularity  and  deter- 
termined  to  destroy  him  !  "  This  assertion  is  ridiculous  even 
to  mendacity,  and  is  made  for  the  sole  purpose  of  diverting 
public  attention  from  the  overwhelming  proof  of  the  infamous 
conduct  of  his  client,  to  those  whom  he  surmised  might,  by 
some  possibilit}^,  stand  in  the  way  of  their  schemes;  and  there- 
fore it  was  necessary  to  defile  them,  rob  them  of  their  good 
names,  blast  their  characters  and  make  them  odious  to  the 
community,  by  bringing  them  down  to  their  own  dirty  level. 

A  sufficient  proof  of  the  falsity  of  this  charge  is  found  in 


41 

the  additional  fact  that  neither  one  of  the  alleged  conspirators, 
or  other  members  of  the  Board,  allowed  their  names  to  be 
placed  before  either  of  the  nominating  conventions  for  nomi- 
nation to  the  office  of  Superintendent;  nor  were  they  or  either 
of  them  candidates  for  that  position. 

Were  anything  more  than  what  we  have  already  said,  re- 
quired to  illustrate  the  character  of  this  man,  it  would  be 
found  in  his  base  ingratitude  to  the  Superintendent  and  mem- 
bers of  the  Board  who  had  befriended  him,  gave  him  a  lucrative 
position,  and  retained  him  in  it  notwithstanding  the  objections 
even  then  raised  against  him. 

Writers  of  ancient  and  modern  times  both  unite  in  con- 
demning ingratitude,  and  one  of  them  goes  so  far  as  to  say 
that, 

"  If  there  be  a  crime 

Of  deeper  dye  than  all  the  guilt  v  train 

Of  human  vicbs,  'tis  ingratitude." 

While  another  says, 

•'  The  wretch  whom  gratitude  once  fails  to  bind, 

To  truth  or  honor  let  him  lay  no  claim ; 

But  staud  confess'd  the  brute  disguis'd  in  man." 


Report  of  the  Committee  appointed  to  investigate  the  charges  made 
by  iS.  B.  Thompson  against  m.embers  of  the  Board  of  Education, 

To  THE  Hon.  Board  of  Education: 

Gentlemen:  —  Your  committee  upon  the  "Thompson 
Charges,"  would  respectfully  present  the  following  report,  viz  : 

After  much  delay  an  arrangement  was  made  with  Mr. 
Thompson,  through  his  counsel  to  assist  this  committee  in  their 
•investigation  ;  and  a  meeting  accordingly  was  called  April 
14th,  when  the  prosecution  asked  for  time  to  correct  and  pre- 
sent the  charsres  in  legal  form. 

On  the  24th  of  April,  another  meeting  was  called,  and  the 
charges  against  Giles  H.  Gray,  Esq.,  were  taken  up,  and  the 
testimony  fiiiled  to  show  any  moral  obliquity  or  corruption  on 
the  part  of  the  accused. 

At  the  next  meeting,  April  26th,  the  charges  against  L.  B. 


43 

Mastick  were  presented,  but  not  sustained  by  the  testimony. 
Decision  was  given  April  27th. 

Another  meeting  was  called  on  the  28th  of  April,  when  the 
prosecution  withdrew  and  refused  to  assist  in  the  further  in- 
vestigation of  the  charges,  leaving  the  committee  to  infer  that 
their 

"  Hope  thus  early  became  forlorn  ;  " 

and  that  the  charges  were  not  made  with  a  special  reference 
to  benefit  the  School  Department. 

A  meeting  was  then  called  on  the  9th  of  May,  when  most 
of  the  remaining  charges  were  inquired  into,  and  we  were  un- 
able to  fiud  that  any  of  the  members  had  been  guilty  of  the 
least  corruption  or  wrong  dealing  toward  the  Board  or  the 
School  Department. 

Failing  thus  far  to  find  any  cause  for  the  extraordinary 
course  of  the  prosecution,  in  bringing  charges  against  certain 
members  of  the  Board,  we  did  not  deem  the  remaining  charges 
to  be  of  sufficient  importance  to  give  more  time  for  their  in- 
vestigation, as  they  had  been  abandoned  by  the  party  making 
them. 

In  concluding  this  report,  we  desire  to  express  our  great  re- 
gret that  any  member  of  our  body  should  thus,  without  cause, 
invite  and  encourage  the  public  censure  to  fall  upon  his  col- 
leagues, and  destroy  their  reputation  as  gentlemen  of  honor 
and  honesty,  and  make  them  unworthy  to  be  called  good  citi- 
zens. 

Swift  opinions,  like  the  swift  lightning  from  the  heated 
summer  sky,  that  withers  the  branches  and  destroy  the  trunk 
of  the  stoutest  oak,  are  liable  to  destroy  the  peace  of  the  un- 
obtrusive, and  leave  a  withering  blight  upon  the  fair  name  and 
good  intentions  of  others. 

The  office  of  life  is  not  exclusively  an  individual  right ;  life 
has  claims  of  relationship,  of  reputation  and  of  dependence 
upon  one  another  that  must  be  observed ;  and  honor,  self-re- 
spect, and  dignity  demand  their  observance,  or  we  shall  fall 
far  short  of  the  higher  purposes  of  our  being,  and  shall  also 
fail  to  acknowledge  the  right  and  importance  of  any  social  or 
organic  law  to  govern  us. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  our  schools  are  not  merely 


43 

adapted  to  individual  circum stances,  nor  should  tbey  be  con- 
sidered as  separate  and  individual  forms  of  some  civil  or  mun- 
icipal regulation  with  no  view  to  the  future ;  but  they  should 
be  viewed  in  that  spirit  of  candor  and  wisdom  which  contem- 
plates things  in  their  own  relations,  and  with  a  wise  reference 
to  their  ultimate  results. 

We  would  therefore,  take  this  occasion  to  remind  the  mem- 
bers of  this  Board  that  a  lack  of  mutual  correspondence,  and 
an  opposition  to  one  another,  will  always  increase  our  labors 
and  make  the  efficiency  of  our  efforts  less. 
Respectfully  submitted, 

Washington  Ayer,   ]  ^        .,, 
W.  A.  Grover,  [  Committee. 

San  Francisco,  June  13th,  1865. 

After  the  above  report  was  presented  and  adopted,  a  resolu- 
tion was  passed  requesting  S.  B.  Thompson  to  resign  his  seat 
as  a  member  of  the  Board ;  but  in  keeping  with  his  previous 
disgraceful  action  in  bringing  the  charges,  he  still  persists  in 
retaining  it,  thus  exhibiting  still  further  his  unmanly  conduct 
and  lack  of  spirit. 


REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE   OF  INVESTIGATION. 


To  THE  Hon.  Board  of  Education: 

Gentlemen:  Your  committee  appointed  in  April  last,  to 
investigate  the  charges  preferred  against  J.  C.  Pelton  bj  a 
committee  of  the  Board,  September  20th,  1864,  and  recorded 
on  pages  654  and  655  of  Minutes,  Book  4,  and  such  others  as 
might  be  preferred  under  the  resolution  authorizing  the  inves- 
tigation passed  March  21st,  1865,  have  performed  the  duty  as- 
signed them  and  report  as  follows: 

After  two  ineffectual  attempts  at  meeting,  the  committee  was 
again  called  together  on  Tuesday  evening,  April  25th,  at  7 
o'clock,  to  take  the  preliminary  steps  to  go  on  with  the  inves- 
tigation. 

A  quorum  being  present,  and  also  Mr.  Pelton  and  his  coun- 
sel, on  motion,  Mr.  L.  "W.  Kennedy  was  elected  permanent 
chairman  of  the  committee,  and  without  transacting  any  fur- 
ther business,  the  committee  adjourned  until  the  next  evening 
at  7  o'clock. 

At  the  meeting  on  the  following  evening,  it  was  resolved 
that  Mr.  Pelton  be  allowed  to  appear  by  his  counsel,  Mr.  F.  M. 
Pixle3^ 

The  charges  were  then  read,  and  both  parties  being  ready 
to  proceed,  the  taking  of  testimony  was  commenced,  Mr.  J.  D. 
Littlefield  being  the  first  witness  called.  During  the  investi- 
tigation  the  committee  had  about  eighteen  sessions,  and  twenty 
(20)  witnesses  were  examined  for  the  plaintiflf,  and  forty-five 
for  the  defendant,  as  follows: 

For  plaintifi"— Messrs.  J.  D.  Littlefield,  D.  H.  Whittemore, 
George  Beanston,  John  11.  Warren,  George  Tait,  Bernhard 
Marks,  Giles  H.  Gray,  Andrew  E.  McGlynn,  George  W.  Minns, 


46 

T,  C.  Leonard,  Daniel  Lunt,  M.  Lynch,  James  Stratton,  Edwin 
R  Campbell,  Washington  Elliott,  J.  H.  Widber,  William  G. 
Badger,  James  Den  man,  Dr.  Washington  Ayer,  and  Ira  Q-. 
Hoitt. 

For  defendant — Messrs.  J.  S.  Loop,  Rev.  J.  T.  Peck,  J.  M. 
Buffington,  W.  O.  Andrews,  J.  R.  Hasten,  T.  W.  Dickens,  M. 
J.  Burke,  John  Coffy,  Mrs.  B.  Cohn,  Mrs.  M.  Hamilton,  Wm. 
II.  Evans,  Frank  Spiller,  C.  F.  Craddock,  A.  Campe,  Patrick 
McCormick,  Delos  J.  Howe,  Mrs.  Galloway,  George  H.  Cros- 
sette,  Wm.  B.  Cooke,  Henry  B.  Janes,  Frank  Soule,  C.  L. 
Ross,  Henry  Williams,  George  Dougherty,  F.  K.  Mitchell, 
Richard  O'Neil,  P.  W.  Sheapheard,  Washington  Elliott,  W. 
H.  Willis,  A.  D.  Hatch,  Wm.  Bartling,  H.  S.  Kimball,  W.  H. 
Allen,  Wm.  G.  Badger,  S.  D.  Baker,  Levi  Kellogg,  George  H. 
Peck,  Miss  Helen  Thompson,  Miss  M.  E.  Stowell,  Miss  Lizzie 
F.  Hitchings,  Miss  Frances  Lynch,  Miss  C.  V.  Benjamin,  Miss 
S.  L.  Hobart,  Mrs.  M.  S.  P.  Nichols,  Mrs.  Aurelia  Griffith. 

Many  of  the  witnesses  examined  for  the  defense,  knew  ab- 
solutely nothing  about  the  case,  nor  could  they  answer  a  single 
question  of  their  own  knowledge  as  to  whether  the  charges, 
the  only  matter  at  issue,  were  true  or  otherwise.  They  were 
mostly  brought  forward  to  testify  to  the  good  reputation  and 
standing  of  the  "  Rincon  School,"  while  under  the  charge  of 
the  accused ;  yet  many  of  them  admitted  on  cross-examina- 
tion, that  they  had  neither  sent  their  children  to  that  school, 
nor  had  they  ever  visited  it. 

They  were  brought  forward  and  their  testimony  evidently 
taken,  not  so  much  to  enlighten  the  committee,  or  disprove 
the  charges,  as  to  be  given  to  the  public  through  the  columns 
of  friendly  newspapers,  to  advance  the  political  aims  of  John 
C.  Pelton,  alike  regardless  of  truth,  honor,  and  fairness. 
During  the  first  meetmgs  of  the  committee,  the  counsel  for  the 
defense  availed  himself,  apparently,  of  every  quibble  and 
technical  objection  the  law  affords  to  delay  the  examination 
of  witnesses,  and  prevent  a  speedy  conclusion  of  the  investi- 
gation ;  and  these  objections  were  carried  to  such  an  extent, 
that  it  was  finally  found  necessary  to  prefer  tlie  charges  against 
the  defendant  in  a  new  and  different  form,  to  enable  the  com- 
mittee to  introduce   the  testimony  of  witnesses  they  deemed 


46 

essential  to  a  correct  understanding  of  the  merits  of  the  case. 

These  additional  charges  were  presented  to  the  Board  at  a 
meeting  held  on  the  2nd  day  of  May,  and  referred  to  this  com- 
mittee for  investigation,  and  a  copy  of  them  was  afterward 
served  on  defendant's  counsel. 

They  will  be  found  in  their  order,  together  with  the  result 
of  the  deliberations  of  the  committee,  in  a  subsequent  part  of 
this  report. 

As  the  counsel  for  defendant,  at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
case,  raised  the  cry  of  j^^^secutioji,  outrage  and  injustice  on  the 
part  of  the  committee,  against  the  rights  of  his  client — a  cry 
that  was  kept  up  with  remarkable  pertinacity  under  all  cir- 
cumstances during  its  progress — the  members^of  the  commit- 
tee, desirous  only  of  doing  justice  between  the  public  and 
defendant,  deemed  it  advisable  to  do  nothing  which  could  be 
construed  either  into  unnecessary  severity  or  unfairness;  con- 
sequently they  oftentimes  waived  their  rights  on  questions  at 
issue,  and  generally  let  the  defense  have  their  own  way,  rather 
than  listen  to  tirades  of  abuse  and  speeches  for  publication. 
Still,  they  found  themselves  and  their  actions  constantly  de- 
nounced and  willfully  misrepresented,  the  object  of  which  is 
now  apparent  to  the  most  casual  observer. 

Indeed,  it  can  safely  be  said,  that  never  within  the  knowl- 
edge of  your  committee  did  counsel  do  less  for  a  client  before 
the  jury  trying  him,  and  more  for  effect  upon  the  public  mind, 
than  in  this  case ;  and  that  this  assertion  is  beyond  dispute, 
we  need  only  instance  the__extraordinary  action  of  counsel  in 
calling  a  mass  meeting  of  citizens  at  a  public  hall  on  the  even- 
ing previous  to  the  election,  and  then  "summing  up  "  the  case, 
instead  of  making  his  argument  before  the  body  hearing  the 
evidence  ;  after  which,  on  his  own  ex  parte  and  misrepresented 
statement  of  facts,  to  ask  a  verdict  at  their  hands,  to  the  effect 
"that  said  charges  were  wholly  unfounded,  and  that  they  were 
made  unjustly  and  in  bad  faith." 

This  proceeding  of  itself,  so  unusual,  unfair,  and,  under  the 
circumstances,  unwarrantable,  must  be  sufficient  proof  to  re- 
flecting minds  of  the  political  trickery  of  the  parties  interested, 
and  shows  conclusively  that  the  sole  object  was  to  enable  the 
counsel  to  make  a  political  speech  in  favor  of  his  client,  before 


47 

an  audience  wliich  had  not  heard  the  evidence,  knew  little  of 
the  merits  of  the  case,  and  could  not  be  expected  to  know 
whether  any  regard  was  being  paid  to  the  examination  of  the 
charges  or  the  proof  adduced  to  sustain  them.  Before  taking 
this  step,  the  counsel  himself  admitted  that  it  would  be  impos- 
sible for  the  committee  to  go  over  the  testimony  taken,  and 
find  a  verdict  on  all  the  charges  before  the  election  took  place  ; 
but  notwithstnnding  this,  he  seizes  on  a  shabby  pretext,  un- 
worthy of  a  honorable  and  high-minded  man,  goes  before  the 
public,  and  there  misrepresents  facts  and  the  evidence,  and 
abuses  the  individual  members  of  this  committee  in  a  most 
outrageous  and  unjustifiable  manner. 

Afterward,  however,  forgetting  the  indignity  he  had  offered 
your  committee  by  going  before  a  public  assembly  and  there 
reviling  them  in  the  grossest  manner,  in  order  to  create 
sympathy  for  his  client,  he  came  before  us,  and  then,  wholly 
disregarding  the  evidence,  advised  the  committee,  "  that  as  elec- 
tion loas  now  over,  it  would  he  the  better  plan  on  our  part  to  let  the 
matter  drop.^'' 

Your  committee,  not  entertaining  the  idea  that  the  charges 
and  their  investigation  had  any  connection  with  election,  or 
election  anything  to  do  with  the  charges,  concluded  to  decline 
the  advice,  and  present  the  result  of  their  labors,  without  re- 
gard to  circumstances,  accidents  or  persons,  and  this  we  do 
because  we  feel  it  incumbent  on  us  to  faithfully  perform  the 
duty  assigned  us,  that  justice  may  be  done  in  the  premises. 
Hence  we  report  our  findings  on  each  of  the  charges  sepa- 
rately, for  the  action  of  your  honorable  body. 

Taking  them  up,  then,  in  their  order,  we  will  number  them, 
and  proceed  to  give,  from  the  evidence  before  us,  the  conclu- 
sions we  have  arrived  at  on  each. 

Before  doing  so,  however,  we  might  be  allowed  to  call  your 
attention  to  one  of  the  important  points  made  by  counsel  for 
defendant  in  his  speech  at  Piatt's  Hall,  in  order  to  show  its 
utter  falsity,  viz  :  That  your  committee  had  purposely  delayed 
the  investigation  so  as  to  prevent  the  rendering  of  a  decision 
until  after  the  election  !  It  will  be  easily  seen  from  what  has 
already  been  said,  as  to  the  course  pursued  by  counsel  from  the 
commencement  of  the  investigation,  from  his  own  admission 


48 

before  your  committee,  "that  it  would  he  impossible  for  them  to 
make  a  report  he/ore  election  day"  and  from  the  fact  that  he 
himself  moved,  at  least  on  two  occasions,  "  that  the  further  inves- 
tigation of  the  matter  he  postponed  until  after  election"  which 
propositions  the  committee  invariably  refused  to  adopt.  From 
this  it  will  plainly  appear  that  he  was  desirous  of  keeping  the 
question  undetermined  until  election  was  over — and  that  he 
shaped  his  course  to  accomplish  that  end,  and  finally  succeeded 
in  his  efforts,  are  facts  too  well  established  to  admit  of  ques- 
tion. The  charge,  therefore,  of  delay  must  attach  alone  to  the 
counsel  for  defense,  and  not  to  3^our  committee. 

The  Committee  on  Salaries  and  Judiciary  reported  the  fol- 
lowing resolutions  in  Mr.  Pel  ton's  case  : 

Your  committtee  report,  from  the  facts  within  the  knowledge 
of  the  committee,  they  are  satisfied  that  J.  C.  Pelton,  while 
holding  the  position  of  Prmcipal  of  the  Rincon  School,  has 
failed  to  perform  the  duties  of  his  position  as  follows: 

First  Charge. — He  has  failed  to  observe  and  enforce  all  the 
regulations  of  the  Board  regarding  discipline  and  instruction. 

There  are  two  counts  in  this  charge,  and  we  find  from  the 
evidence  that  they  are  both  sustained. 

Second  Charge. — He  has  failed  to  perform  the  duties  required 
of  his  position  by  Subdivisions  3,  5,  6,  11,  12  and  16  of  Sec- 
tion 3  of  Rules  and  Regulations  of  the  Public  Schools,  to-wit: 

Section  Three  of  Rules  and  Regulations. — Subdivision 
3 — To  be  at  respective  rooms  fifteen  minutes  before  10  a.  m., 
and  if  not  so  present,  to  report  themselves  as  tardy. 

There  are  also  two  counts  in  this  charge,  and  we  find  they 
are  both  sustained  by  the  evidence. 

Tliird  Charge. — Subdivision  5 — To  punctually  observe  the 
hours  appointed  for  opening  and  dismissing  the  schools,  and 
during  school  hours  to  devote  themselves  to  the  duties  of  their 
office. 

There  are  three  counts  in  this  charge,  and  we  find  that  the 
first,  in  regard  to  the  hour  for  opening  the  school,  is  not  sus- 
tained, and  that  the  two  remaining  counts  are  sustained. 

Fourth  Charge. — Subdivision  6 — To  carefully  instruct  pupils 
to  avoid  idleness  and  profanity,  falsehood  and  deceit,  and 
every  wicked  and  disgraceful  practice,  and  to  conduct  them- 


40 

selves  in  an  orderly  and  proper  manner,  and  so  far  as  practi- 
cable, to  exercise  a  general  supervision  over  them  in  these  re- 
gards, both  in  and  out  of  school,  and  also  while  going  to  same 
and  returning  home,  and  on  all  suitable  occasions  to  inculcate 
the  principles  of  truth,  virtue  and  patriotism. 

We  find  that  so  much  of  this  charge  as  relates  to  instructing 
pupils  to  avoid  falsehood  and  deceit,  and  on  all  suitable  occa- 
sions to  inculcate  the  principles  of  truth,  are  fully  sustained  by 
the  evidence,  and  that  the  balance  of  the  charge  is  not  sus- 
tained. 

Fifth  Charge. — Subdivision  11 — To  obtain  leave  on  the  day 
previous,  when  they  find  it  necessary  to  be  absent  from  school, 
and  to  notify  the  Superintendent  after  such  absence  becomes 
necessary. 

We  find  that  this  charge  is  also  fully  sustained,  and  indeed 
that  a  violation  of  his  duty  under  this  section  of  the  Manual 
was  with  him  the  rule,  and  a  compliance  with  it  the  exception. 

Sbdh  Charge. — Subdivision  12 — To  first  obtain  leave  from 
the  Superintendent  or  President  of  the  Board  whenever  they 
wish  to  be  absent  from  school  during  school  hours.  Any 
teacher  absent  for  less  than  a  day  shall  report  to  the  Superin- 
tendent within  twenty-four  hours  thereafter,  and  the  excuse 
therefor.  The  penalty  for  a  violation  of  this  section  shall  be 
a  forfeiture  of  the  teacher's  position. 

We  find  that  he  frequently  violated  this  rule  of  the  Board, 
and  as  the  penalty  attached  is  a  forfeiture  of  the  teacher's  po- 
sition, the  rule  should  have  been  enforced  against  him  long 
before  ?^  was. 

Seventh  Charge. — Subdivision  16 — To  make]no  contracts  or 
incur  any  debt  on  account  of  the  public  schools. 

We  find  this  charge  fully  sustained  by  the  evidence,  and  that 
in  violation  of  said  rule  of  the  Board,  he  arrogated  to  himself 
the  power  to  employ  a  teacher,  and  keep  him  in  his  school  for 
about  the  period  of  three  weeks,  then  sending  in  the  bill  for 
services  to  the  Board.  This  is  a  most  unwarranted  usurpation 
of  power,  and  far  exceeds  the  rights  and  powers  of  any  mem- 
ber of  the  Board. 

Eighth  Charge. — He  has  failed  to  observe  and  perform  the 
duties  required  of  him  as  Principal  of  the  Eincon  School  by 


50 

Subdivisions  7  and  12  of  Section  4  of  said  Rules  and  Regula- 
tions. 

Section  4.  Subdivision  7 — To  suspend  any  pupil  for 
pointed  or  violent  opposition  to  authority  in  any  particular  in- 
stance, notifying  the  parent  or  guardian  and  the  Superinten- 
dent on  the  same  or  following  day. 

The  testimony  introduced  in  support  of  this  charge,  in  our 
opinion,  is  not  enough  to  sustain  it. 

Ninth  Charge. — Subdivision  18 — To  fill  any  vacancy  in  the 
position  of  the  assistant  teachers  undsr  their  charge  for  the 
day,  and  report  immediately  to  the  Superintendent. 

There  was  no  evidence  produced  in  support  of  this  charge, 
consequently  we  find  it  not  sustained. 

Tenth  Charge. — He  has  failed  to  observe  and  to  perform  the 
duties  required  of  his  position  by  Section  11  of  said  Rules 
and  Regulations,  to-wit : 

Section  11.  No  festival  or  exhibition  shall  be  held  by  any 
public  school  without  permission  of  the  Board.  The  price 
and  quality  of  pianos,  charts,  etc ,  purchased  for  the  public 
schools  from  the  proceeds  of  festivals,  siiall  be  under  and  sub- 
ject to  the  approval  of  the  Superintendent  and  Directors  of 
the  respective  schools,  who  shall  report  the  amount  of  the 
prices  to  the  Board.  All  property  hereafter  purchased 
for  the  use  of  the  schools  from  funds  realized  from  festivals  or 
subscriptions,  by  authority  of  this  Board,  shall  remain  a  per- 
manent fixture  of  the  schools. 

We  find  that  this  charge  is  fully  sustained  by  the  evidence, 
and  further,  that  the  action  of  J.  C.  Pelton,  in  procee^^ig  with 
his  undertaking,  after  the  action  had  by  the  Board  at  a  special 
meeting  called  for  the  purpose,  and  at  which  a  resolution  was 
passed  by  them  and  ordered  published,  disapproving  of  the 
same,  showed  a  flagrant  disregard  of  their  authority,  and  is  as 
inexcusable  as  using  the  names  of  the  other  grammar  schools 
and  the  names  of  the  grammar  masters,  without  at  first  ob- 
taining their  consent  or  authority. 

And  hence  the  committee  recommend  the  adoption  of  the 
following  resolutions : 

Resolved,  That  J.  C.  Pelton  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  dismissed 
from  the  employ  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  city  and 
county  of  San  Francisco,  and  also  from  the  charge  of  the 
Biucon  Grammar  School,  as  Grammar  Master,  and  that  the- 


51 

appointment  of  J.  C.  Pelton  to  tlie  position  of  Grammar  Mas- 
ter is  hereby  revoked  and  annulled  by  the  Board  ;  and  the 
Secretary  is  directed  to  notify  Mr.  Pelton  forthwith  of  the 
adoption  of  this  resolution. 

Resolved,  That  the  Rincon  Grammar  School  be  opened  on 
Wednesday,  the  2lst  of  September,  1864,  at  10  o'clock  a.  m., 
under  the  charge  of  Ira  G.  Iloyt,  Esq.,  as  Principal ;  and  the 
Superintendent  is  hereby  authorized  and  directed  to  demand 
and  recover  the  possession  and  keys  of  the  said  Rincon  Sciiool 
from  every  party  who  may  have  possession  thereof,  and  deliver 
the  same  to  the  said  Mr.  Hoyt. 

Resolved,  That  the  communication  of  J.  C.  Pelton  be  re- 
ceived and  placed  on  file. 

W.  Ayer, 
G.  A.  Gray, 

J.   H.   WiDBEB. 

We  now  come  to  the  new  or  additional  charges  before  men- 
tioned, and  numbered  from  one  to  seven,  inclusive : 

Additional   Charges  against  J.  C.  Pelton,  Grammar  Master,  pre- 
sented  under  the  resolution  passed  March  21st,  1865. 

Charge  1. — That  at  the  examination  of  teachers  in  Decem- 
ber, 1862,  J.  C.  Pelton,  then  examined  for  the  position  of 
Grammar  Master,  was  guilty  of  immoral  and  unprofessional 
conduct  in  this  :  That  contrary  to  his  written  declaration  that 
he  had  not  consulted  either  books  or  persons,  he  did  consult 
with  other  teachers,  and  procured  from  them  information 
which  enabled  him  to  respond  to  a  question  correctly,  which, 
without  such  information,  he  had  previousl3'-  failed  to  answer; 
and  that  consequently  the  certificate  then  granted  him  was 
fraudulently  obtained. 

The  evidence  of  Messrs.  Marks,  McGlynn  and  Minns,  in 
support  of  this  charge,  is  full,  direct  and  complete,  and  fully 
sustains  the  charge,  so  far  as  the  answer  to  one  question  is  con- 
cerned. The  reason  why  he  was  so  anxious  to  secure  addi- 
tional credits,  and  adopted  this  dishonorable  method  of  accom- 
plishing it,  was  shown  to  be  that  it  was  generally  understood 
amongst  the  members  of  the  Board  and  the  teachers  then  ex. 
amined,  that  he  was  likely  to  fail  in  passing  the  examination, 
though  the  standard  of  per  centage  was  less  by  ten  than  at  the 
examination  last  preceding  it.     In  addition  to  the  evidence  of 


52 

witnesses  on  this  point,  we  have  his  own  admission  to  the  same 
effect  in  writing,  as  follows : 

To  the  Comm  itlee  on  Examination  of  the  Hon.  Board  of  Education  : 

Gentlemen': — During  the  recent  examination  of  teachers,  especially  during  the 
last  two  days,  I  was  so  ill  as  to  render  my  doing  myself  justice,  particularly  in 
mathematics,  a  matter  of  absolute  impossibility.  No  principle  was  involved  in 
any  question  proposed,  with  which,  as  I  believe.  I  have  not  for  many  years  been 
familiar;  but,  as  stated,  during  most  of  the  examination,  I  found  myself  incapable 
of  pursuing  any  analytical  process  whatever — could  not  even  add,  subtract,  mul- 
tiply and  divide  simple  number3  {as  doubtless  my  papers  will  readily  show). 
Under  the  circumstances  staled,  of  course  I  failed  in  Algebra,  and  did  little  better 
in  Arithmetic. 

I  therefore  ask,  most  respectfully,  that  at  your  earliest  convenience  I  be  per* 
mitted  a  new  examination,  at  least  in  the  former  of  the  two  branches  named. 
I  remain,  respectfully,  your  most  obedient, 

J.  C.  Pelton. 

Cliarge  2. — That  since  the  election  in  May,  1864,  he  has  been 
guilty  of  a  systematic  and  studied  attempt  to  prevent  the  rules 
and  orders  of  the  Board  of  Education  from  being  carried  into 
effect. 

We  think  that  the  evidence  on  this  charge  is  not  sufficient 
to  justify  us  in  declaring  it  sustained,  while  at  the  same  time 
we  are  satisfied  that  so  far  as  the  re-examination  of  the  pupils 
of  the  Rincon  School  last  June  is  concerned,  Mr.  Pelton,  in- 
stead of  co-operating  with  the  Board  in  carrying  out  their 
order  requiring  such  re-examination  to  take  place,  tried  to 
prevent  the  same  from  being  carried  into  effect. 

Charge  3. — That  on  a  number  of  occasions  he  paid  no  re- 
gard to  the  orders  and  directions  of  the  executive  officer  of 
tbis  Board,  the  Superintendent  of  Schools,  when  acting  under 
its  rules  and  authority. 

This  charge  we  find  is  fully  sustained  by  the  evidence  of 
the  Superintendent  and  Mr.  Littlefield,  showing  that  Mr.  Pel- 
ton  left  his  class  and  school  after  being  told  to  remain  in 
charge,  and  kept  Mr.  Littlefield  employed  there,  after  being 
told  not  to  do  so. 

Charge  4. — That  on  a  number  of  occasions,  in  his  profes- 
sional intercourse  and  dealings  with  this  Board,  he  has  been 
guilty  of  prevarication  and  falsehood,  thereby  causing  the- 
members  of  this  Board  to  lose  confidence  in  him  as  a  man, 
and  more  especially  as  a  teacher,  and  forcing  on  them  the  con- 
viction of  his  unfitness  to  have  the  care  and  teaching  of  the 
susceptible  minds  of  the  young. 

We  find  that  the  evidence  of  witnesses  on  this  charge  fully 


53 

sustains  it,  and  in  addition,  we  have  the  written  statements 
and  verbal  confessions  of  the  defendant,  which  were  proven 
to  be  incorrect. 

Charge  5. — That  through  attention  to  matters  not  pertaining 
to  the  duties  of  his  position  as  Grammar  Master,  he  has  fre- 
quently neglected  those  duties,  to  the  injury  of  the  school  un- 
der his  care  and  the  general  interests  of  the  department.  That 
on  one  or  more  occasions,  before  his  class,  he  has,  for  selfish 
motives,  exhibited  a  disregard  for  honesty  and  fair  dealing, 
i<ind  been  also  guilty  of  unprofessional  conduct. 

There  are  two  counts  in  this  charge,  and  we  find  by  the  evi- 
dence that  they  are  both  sustained. 

Charge  6. — That  he  has  written  and  published  newspaper 
articles  reflecting  on  the  Board  of  Education  and  its  members, 
that  were  untrue,  and  that  tended  to  bring  the  Board  into  ridi- 
cule and  destroy  its  influence  and  authority ;  and  that  he  gave 
information  to  other  persons  in  regard  to  matters  relating  to 
the  School  Department,  and  connived  with  and  induced  them 
to  write  such  articles  while  he  was  employed  as  a  teacher;  that 
his  character  for  veracity  is  questionable,  and  where  he  is  per- 
sonally interested,  no  reliance  can  be  placed  on  his  word. 

We  find  that  so  much  of  this  charge  as  relates  to  the  writing 
and  publishing  of  newspaper  articles  while  employed  as  a  teach- 
er, which  were  untrue,  and  reflecting  on  the  Board  and  its  mem- 
bers, is  fully  sustained  by  his  own  acknowledgments  and  the 
evidence,  but  the  remainder  of  the  charge  relating  to  conni- 
vance with  and  inducement  of  others  to  write  such  articles,  is  not 
sustained.  The  remaining  part  of  this  charge,  saying  that 
'  "where  he  is  personally  interested,  no  reliance  can  be  placed 
on  his  word,"  is  also  fully  sustained  by  the  evidence,  and  the 
result  of  the  examination  of  a  number  of  matters  in  which  he 
was  interested,  and  where  his  statements  were  known  and 
proven  to  be  false,  to-wit :  that  permission  had  been  given  him 
to  hold  a  picnic ;  that  he  was  authorized  to  use  the  names  of 
the  other  grammar  masters  and  their  schools  for  that  purpose ; 
that  he  knew  of  no  reason  why  the  examination  was  less  se- 
vere to  his  scholars  than  to  those  of  the  other  grammar  schools; 
that  the  scholars  of  other  schools  had  access  to  the  questions 
previous  to  the  examination ;  that  the  articles  written  and 
published  by  him  did  not  in  any  way  reflect  on  the  members 


54 

of  tbe  Board ;  that  he  did  not  hire  Mr.  Littlefield  to  teach 
in  his  school ;  that  he  received  no  information  from  books  or 
persons  which  enabled  him  to  answer  a  question  correctly  at 
his  examination  ;  that  he  knew  of  no  reason  for  his  dismissal ; 
that  the  charges  afterward  furnished  him,  at  his  own  request, 
were  untrue,  or  taking  his  own  words,  he  says,  ^^  baseless  and 
wicked  Ipro7iounce  them ;  "  that  his  pupils  only  received  a  ben- 
efit of  one  eighth  of  one  per  cent.,  by  having  the  questions  in 
which  they  were  examined  given  to  them  some  time  previous, 
and  by  them  carried  home  to  practice  on,  and  in  their  posses- 
sion during  the  whole  of  the  examination  ;  that  they  did  not 
have  access  to  the  "Cincinnati  Report,"  in  which  the  questions 
were,  during  the  same  period ;  and  finally  that  he  would  de- 
liver to  Mr.  Terry  the  letter  given  him  by  Mr.  Gray  fpr  that 
purpose,  and  would  not  use  it  in  this  city  for  any  purpose 
whatever. 

Charge  7. — That  instead  of  endeavoring,  in  good  faith,  to 
to  advance  the  best  interests  of  the  School  Department,  he  has, 
since  December  1st,  1862,  through  a  disrecrard  for  truth,  and 
by  trickery,  produced  mischief,  disorganization,  insubordina- 
tion in  the  Department,  and  distrust  in  the  public  mind  to- 
ward it. 

This  charge  is  in  part,  a  repetition  of  previous  charges,  yet 
divesting  it  of  superfluous  verbiage,  we  find  from  the  evidence 
that  he  did  not  in  good  faith  endeavor  at  all  times  to  advance 
the  best  interest  of  the  School  Department,  and  that  his  acts 
and  conduct  showed  a  disregard  for  truth,  and  tended  in  a 
great  measure  to  bring  the  evils  spoken  of  in  the  Department, 
and  undoubtedly  added  materially,  probably  more  than  any- 
thing else,  to  the  distrust  in  the  public  mind  toward  it. 

Charge  8. — That  his  connection  as  a  teacher  in  the  Depart- 
ment was  found  to  be  detrimental  to  its  interest,  caused  a  want 
of  harmony  and  created  continued  discontent  on  the  part  of 
the  teachers,  on  account  of  his  notorious  violation  of  the  rules 
and  regulations  of  the  Department,  without  notice  being  taken 
of  the  same  by  the  Board. 

We  find  that  so  much  of  this  charge  as  says  ".that- his  con- 
tinuance as  a  teacher  in  the  Department  was  found  detrimental 


55 

to  its  interest,  and  caused  a  want  of  harmony  "  is  sustained, 
and  that  the  remainder  of  the  charge  is  not  sustained. 

Charge  9. — That  particularly  during  the  last  term  he  was 
in  the  Department,  he  was  delinquent  in  the  following  essen- 
tial duties  of  a  Principal,  to  wit:  Supervising  the  conduct  of 
his  pupils  out  of  school  hours,  and  maintaining  a  proper  care 
of  the  school  premises  and  property. 

This  is  the  last  charge,  and  we  find  from  the  evidence  that 
it  is  sustained. 

The  above  report  was  adopted  by  a  majority  of  the  com- 
mittee, and  ordered  to  be  presented  to  the  Board  of  Education 
as  the  report  of  said  committee. 

San  Francisco,  June  13th,  1865. 

L.  W.  Kennedy,  Chairman. 
Giles  H.  Gray,  Secretary,  pro  tern. 


22  8  8 


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